A misstep during a tumbling run wasn’t enough to stop Kentlake’s Kayla Shira from capturing the all-around title at Saturday’s district gymnastics meet.

Shira, who stumbled on a landing during the floor exercise, Kentlake’s first event at the tournament, scored a 37.30 overall to edge out Puyallup’s Chelsey Haskey for the title. Haskey was second with a 37.20 followed by Kentwood’s Jamie Larsen, who grabbed third with a 36.625.

“I’m amazed,” Shira said. “This was not my best meet. The floor was not the greatest, but the team did awesome, we did great.”

Shira scored a 9.250 in the floor, good enough for a tie for ninth.

The Kentlake senior more than redeemed herself on the next three events, winning first place on the bars with a 9.30, fourth place on the vault with a 9.250 and second on the beam with a 9.50.

Shira’s performance, coupled with strong performances by teammates Brianne Gould, 15th in the all around with 33.750 points, Lynnsey Thielman, 37th all-around with 25.325 points and Becca Peterson, 34th in the all-around with 27.10 points, helped the Falcons earn their first-ever trip to the Class 4A gymnastics meet, slated for Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

Kentlake finished second in the team competition with 170.550 points.

“It is really exciting,” Kentlake coach Marla Boyd said. “We weren’t sure we had made it because we weren’t keeping track. All season long they do this, they never think they’ve done as good as they have.”

Coming into the meet, Boyd said they knew the competition would be stiff from Puyallup, who won the team competition with 171.125 team points, and Emerald Ridge and Beamer, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

“We just hoped that what we did was enough,” Boyd said. “But we had a solid meet. We had some falls on beam that I wish we wouldn’t have, but overall they were solid. And that was enough today.”

“This is the first time Kentlake has ever gone to state,” Shira added. “And that was our goal all season. It’s really exciting.”

The Falcons – Shira, Gould, Peterson, Thielman, Brenna Bickel, Janae Long, Katie Steckler, Kelly Haegerty and Ashley Skinner – will compete for the state title this weekend.