4A gymnastics: Elizabeth claims third straight team championship

THORNTON – The Elizabeth gymnastics team just won’t release it’s hold over the 4A classification.

On Friday at Thornton High School, the Cardinals posted a team score of 180.75 to pull away from the field and leave for home with the team trophy once again. This latest championship is Elizabeth’s third team title in a row, fourth in the last five seasons and seventh overall.

Being that they have been on top for several seasons and last won a state championship during Season C in April, a little over six months ago, the Cardinals are without a doubt the most dominant 4A team in recent memory.

“This team has had a record-breaking season,” Elizabeth head coach Staci Folmar said. “They’ve scored higher than any team in Elizabeth’s history consistently. We’ve never before gone undefeated in our league. We’ve had a wonderful season. And today, they did what they needed to do. Our motto this year has been, ‘Confidence, consistency and commitment.’

“We’ve had to work really hard to be consistent in our commitment and consistent in our confidence, and we’ve done that. These guys don’t take days off, they’re together a lot and they do it for each other.”

The Cardinals scored a 44.525 on the beam, a 43.225 on the uneven bars, an excellent 46.6 on the vault and an impressive 46.375 on the floor. Their vault and floor scores were the two highest scores of any team in any event.

In completing the three-peat on Friday night, Elizabeth became only the sixth program in any classification to win three straight team championships.

“Our entire goal this season was to make Elizabeth history, whether that was on just one event of highest team score ever or three-peat,” Elizabeth senior Elle Mowbray said. “This team did not let down. We did everything that we could, we laid it all out there and we went out knowing that everyone on our team had our back.”

The last team other than Elizabeth to take home the Class 4A first-place trophy was Niwot in 2018. The Cougars finished runners-up on Friday, putting together a team score of 178.125, after placing third in back-to-back seasons after winning it all in 2018. Palmer Ridge was third with a score of 177.625.