THORNTON – After finishing third in the all-around at the Class 4A state gymnastics championships last year, no one stood in the way of Standley Lake's Tessa Grudle in 2022. 

The junior won the title with a score of 37.550 on Friday at Thornton High School. Loveland’s Payton Rechkemmer was second with a 37.275.

“I was really nervous this morning,” Grudle said. “Coming in here, I knew that I was going to have to fight for my spot. I’m just happy.

“Starting on beam, I kind of had my doubts. It has been a little shaky this year. But I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, seeing these other girls and they are amazing. I just kind of played it by event.”

Grudle started her day on beam and scored a 9.225. She followed that with a 9.4 on uneven bars and began to distance herself from the pack. She scored a 9.475 on floor exercise and finished with a 9.450 on vault. 

She had the second-highest score of the day on beam and floor and the fourth-best on bars and vault.

“She did awesome,” Standley Lake head coach Amy Yoshimura said. “She rocked it. She’s been working so hard all season. It’s amazing to finally see her actually get first. She has been working so hard since her freshman year to get where she is and she did great today.”

For Grudle, it took a lot of work to get to the top after finishing third last year, not only training physically, but also mentally. 

“This year I had to mentally train because that is what got me down last year,” Grudle said. “That is one thing I focused on, and just getting out of my comfort zone and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

She helped lead Standley Lake to a fifth-place finish in the team standings and she will compete on all four events Saturday in the individual finals.