POULSBO — The North Kitsap High School gymnasts are preparing for a Valentine’s Day showdown in Auburn they hope will be their ticket to the program’s first state berth.

The competition at Saturday’s West Central District III meet promises to be tough, but the Viking crew has worked well together all season. Coach Kris Goodfellow is optimistic about the team’s chances for moving forward.

“This is the first time that the team has a good shot at moving on to state,” she said. “The girls have been doing a great job. They just need to keep focused.”

In years past, NK has sent individual gymnasts to state, but never an entire team, according to Goodfellow.

The Vikings qualified for the district meet by putting up a second-place score of 151.8 in a sub-district competition at Kentwood High School in Kent Feb. 7.

Auburn Mountainview, which won the sub-district contest with a score of 163.2, will host Saturday’s meet. Sumner High School was the only other team from the sub-district meet to qualify for districts, with a score of 148.625. The three SNOW (South Puget Sound, Narrows, Olympic League and Western Cascade Conference) qualifiers will take on the top three teams from the Seamount League at Saturday’s meet.

Kingston High finished seventh as a team at the sub-district meet, but will send two gymnasts to districts as individual competitors. Sophomore Dana Van Wyck qualified in the all-around competition, while freshman Tori Gerken qualified on bars.

Three teams and 14 individuals will move on from the district meet to state.

Goodfellow is confident at least a couple of her gymnasts will reach state as individuals even if the team does not. Still, she is keeping the focus on the group effort, and believes the team will make a strong showing.

“I keep telling the girls, ‘The plan is, just do what you’ve been doing all season and you’ll be fine,’” Goodfellow said.