Floor runner-up Tabbutt goes for it

TACOMA - Capital's Mia Tabbutt wanted to change her floor exercise routine after taking a few spills in warm-ups before the finals in the 3A state gymnastics meet Saturday.

“I told her no,” Capital coach Karen McQuiston said. “I told her to go for it.”

Tabbutt did. She came through and placed second with 9.675 points.

“She wanted to water down her routine,” McQuiston said. “She wasn’t that good in warm-ups. She fell a couple of times.”

But McQuiston reassured Tabbutt.

“If you take the harder tricks out, you won’t be in the top eight,” McQuiston said. “If you fall, you won’t finish in the top eight. So, you might as well go for it.”

Tabbutt was fifth in the bars with a 9.2 and eighth in the vault with a 9.4.

Tabbutt, a senior who missed most of last season with a knee injury, is the second to reach the state’s individual finals in McQuiston’s 16 years as Capital’s coach.

Tabbutt placed seventh in the all-around Friday with 36.32 points. She will compete in a national meet in May at Fort Myers, Fla.