BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Flying through the air, curled in a back tuck, the North Kitsap gymnastics team is focused on a perfect dismount.

Honing their skills, desire and focus through polish and refinement is the task in front of the Lady Vikings as the 2005-06 gymnastics season vaults into the postseason.

And North is sprinting toward the Narrows League meet this Saturday in Olympia.

Undefeated in league competitions this year, the Lady Vikings endured their only loss of the season Jan. 27 in impressive fashion as they challenged Metro League leader and last year’s state champion Bainbridge Island in a four-team meet. The Spartans picked up the overall victory, but not by much.

“I did not expect us to come that close to Bainbridge. They are an excellent team and strong competitors,” said NK coach Kris Goodfellow. “My girls have been working hard and certainly stepped things up Friday night.”

The top three final team tallies read: Bainbridge 171.6, North Kitsap 168.55 and Olympia 150.55.

Goodfellow said North got a big boost all-around and especially on bars from junior Kai Morrow — who was competing in just her second meet of the season for NK — as she finished second in all-around totals with a score of 35.5. She was right behind Bainbridge’s Marie Welsh, who finished tops at 37.2.

On the uneven bars, Morrow and Katie Bale turned up the intensity for North. One step above the required routine for the bars, Morrow and Bale competed with more advanced, optional routines.

“These routines include giants which start from a handstand and circle all the way around the high bar,” Goodfellow said.

With the routines, Morrow picked up third with a score of 8.95 and Bale came in fourth with 8.5.

On the vault, Morrow was the only placer for North as she secured fourth place with a score of 8.65; Alice Pittack came in seventh at 8.6.

Bale came up huge for the Lady Vikes on the beam. Her routine featured a deft back tuck and supreme balance, which stabilized three potential falls. Her performance landed her in third place with a 9.1 behind Sophie Wenzlau and Marie Welsh — both of BI — who scored 9.25 and 9.2, respectively.

“All of the girls have really worked hard on beam this last week,” Goodfellow said. “Keeping falls to a minimum has really helped to boost our team total.”

North has also been trying to raise the difficulty of its floor routines in order to up the team totals in that event. Though the floor had been one of the team’s weakest events through the first part of the season, its precision is coming around, Goodfellow said.

Morrow was again the top placer for the Lady Vikes as she took fourth with a 9.0. Amazingly, she was planning her routine in the minutes leading up to her show time. Going big with back tucks and a back lay out, she earned her score.

Pittack earned fifth place with a routine in which the momentum never quit and Bale came in seventh with an 8.55.

“Next is to focus on perfecting and polishing all of the elements heading into the postseason,” Goodfellow noted.

The Lady Vikes head into the league and district meets with some truly level-headed confidence and an extreme amount of energy, said junior Whitney Glebe.

“(Our chances) are a lot better than they were last year,” Glebe said of a hopeful state berth. “We hope to get close. We’ll have to stay on beam and just have a good day. You always have to be focused.”

For entrance into the state tournament, the Lady Vikes will need to finish in the top three at the district meet, which will be Feb. 11 in Federal Way.