Sometimes it just comes down to the luck of the draw.

Redmond High gymnasts Akari Matsumoto and Cristal Spinrad both battled through a long layoff and uncharacteristic slips on the bars finals at the 4A state gymnastics meet last Saturday at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Center to place sixth and seventh, respectively.

The long-format finals featured 32 finalists at the 4A level and 64 from 2A and 3A combined in each of the four events. Matsumoto and Spinrad were drawn to go last out of everyone in 4A, seriously hampering their chances to perform to their potential.

“I was a little disappointed… just by the sheer nature of the draw, they were stuffed in a position where they couldn’t do great,” said Redmond head coach Jason Farr. “They came in and did their warmup at like 10 in the morning, and didn’t get to go until 3:00. That’s the way it goes. I’m still proud of them, they did well. First year in, and they made it all the way through to the state finals.”

The girls also had to witness Woodinville standout Hailey Wells and Ballard phenom Taylor Stern uncork near-perfect performances just ahead of them, scoring 9.55 and 9.525, to all but lock up the gold and silver medals.

“That was a little disconcerting,” said Farr on watching Wells’ and Stern’s routines. “I looked at Akari and I said her job is to beat both of them, and she just stared at me.”

After getting all of 30 seconds to warm up after sitting around for more than four hours, Matsumoto suffered an untimely slip during her routine and Spinrad also lost momentum on the upper bar for major deductions, but both girls had a spectacular run to get to the final heat at the state level.

Matsumoto finished with a score of 8.3, good for sixth, with Spinrad right behind at seventh with a score of 8.275.

Farr’s team will look to be even stronger next year as just about everyone returns, with the success of Matsumoto and Spinrad hopefully spurring increased participation by club gymnasts at the high school level.

“They all did really well,” Farr said of this winter’s squad. “They’re really excited and want to do it again next year … the girls wanted to talk to their (club gymnastics) friends and see if they’ll join next year. Maybe we’ll be bringing back a better team.”

To view and/or purchase photos from the state meet, visit photographer Matt Campbell’s Web site at www.sportspixs.com