A number of athletes on coach Kym Granger’s Bath Area Family YMCA  gymnastics teams have qualified for the YMCA national championships during her 30 years with the program. Due to travel costs and timing, none of those athletes competed in the competition.

This year, a group of athletes decided they didn’t want to pass on the opportunity after winning the state championship in April and regionals in May. Bath sent a team featuring Sadie West (Wiscasset), Ella Lefebvre (Damariscotta), Alisa Bauer (West Bath) and Lucy Boulette (Waldoboro) to Greensboro, North Carolina, from June 27 to July 1, to compete with roughly 1,800 other athletes from YMCAs across the country.

Bath finished fourth in its group, called the Platinum level, with a score of 110.725, only trailing teams from North Carolina (112.200), New Jersey (111.825), and California. (111.200). Old Town-Orono YMCA, the other team from Maine, finished 25th (71.150).

Boulette was the lone member for Bath in the junior division (14-15 years old). The other three competed in the youth division (13 and under).

The judges took the top three scores on the team per event, regardless of division. Some programs brought double the number of athletes.

“They all had standout performances; we would not have been the fourth-place team from tiny little Maine without four strong performances,” Granger said.

Bath also finished first in the floor exercise and the vault in the team competition. West was the youth division national champion in the floor exercise.

“It is definitely a fun routine, and I’ve been practicing it, and it’s just so much practice,” West said. “With it being almost my sixth year doing gymnastics, there’s not as many nerves, but … it’s just something I enjoy so much.”

West also finished second in the all-around and uneven bars, tied for third in vault and fourth on the balance beam. Lefebvre was second in the vault, fourth in the all-around and on the floor, and fifth in the uneven bars and tied for fifth on the balance beam. Bauer took third in the floor exercise and vault, sixth in the all-around and 11th in the balance beam.

Boulette came in eighth in the all-around, tied for second in the floor exercise, and third on the balance beam in the junior division.

“I think we all just work together, and we have a lot of enthusiasm on our team, and being so close with such a (small) team, I think it definitely helped us boost our confidence,” West said.

Granger wishes she didn’t wait this long to make the trip to nationals.

“My only regret is that I didn’t take them sooner,” Granger said. “I had no idea we would be so competitive at a national YMCA level.”