If anyone thought for a moment that Battlefield's run to the state gymnastics final last season could not be repeated with the loss of big-talent seniors, guess again: the Bobcats are back.

The Battlefield gymnastics team followed up on its Cedar Run District championship by capturing its third consecutive trip to states Friday night, defeating second-place Stafford 144.084 to 143.109 in the Northwest Regional final at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville.

Sophomore Brianna Artz led the Bobcats with a come-from-behind first-place showing in the all-around, earning a combined 37.683 points on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises. That score marked a 0.208-point improvement from her all-around victory at districts and gives her a chance to bring home an individual title at the Group AAA in meet this weekend.

She ended up not being the only local gymnast to snag a regional title this weekend either as Brentsville District’s Kelly McKay claimed victory in the Group A/AA all-around on Saturday by scoring 37.775 points. She came within striking distance of a perfect score on beam as she won the event with a score of 9.85. She also brought home a first-place title on the bars by scoring a 9.5.

McKay advances to states with her teammate Rachel Sable, whose bars score of 8.125 qualified her for the big meet set to take place at Deep Run High School just outside of Richmond in Glen Allen.

As for Battlefield, the team as a whole won three out of four events and kept within 0.8 points of Stafford on the bars to maintain its lead.

Artz won without having to place first in a single event. Instead, her consistency paid dividends as she scored above a 9.0 in all four events, making her the only gymnast of the day to pull off such a feat. Her high mark came on the floor, where she scored a 9.633, putting her 0.067 points out of first place.

A 9.5 score on the beam also gave her breathing room over North Stafford's Anika Woodard, who came in second place in the all-around with a 37.417. Woodard bested Artz on the bars (9.8 to 9.05) and vault (9.6 to 9.5) but came up short on beam (9.5 to 9.2) and floor (9.633 to 8.817).

Battlefield benefited from having two all-around competitors compared to Stafford's one. Alex Fairbanks joined Artz as the team's go-to stars. She stayed within striking distance of Stafford's Ashley Hinton on the floor exercise, Fairbanks's traditional strongest event, finishing 0.05 points behind her for seventh place with a score of 9.417.

Meanwhile, Fairbanks's teammate June Mumo (9.167) tied Stafford's Kelsey Cooper for tenth place, while Kelli Herr (9.067) and Paige Kyzer (8.983) rounded out Battlefield's top four in the highest scoring event (37.284) for the Bobcats.

In all, six Bobcats eclipsed the 9.0 mark at least once. Joining Artz, Fairbanks, Mumo and Herr in that category were teammates Rylie McKee (9.4, fourth on beam) and Jena Schroeder (9.1, tenth on beam).

For the Bobcats, the win came despite putting up 1.166 points less than they did at districts on Feb. 2, the first round of the post-season.