Fourteen years and nine levels ago, Warren's Cara Baptista set foot on a gymnastics mat for the first time. The three-year-old stretched, did some splits and forward rolls and fell in love with the sport. "I started at the YMCA," Baptista said. "I always looked forward to going to practice. You get like, a thrill when you compete. I still get nervous before every meet. I get butterflies. It's a good adrenaline rush."

The thrills are still coming for the Our Lady of Fatima junior. Baptista recently finished 13th overall out of 35 competitors at the Midge Palmer Individual Championships. Included in her all-around score was a 9.4 vault, the second best in the state and just .05 points behind Bay View's Kourtney Hundertmark.

Baptista's effort was even more impressive considering she successfully landed a tsukahara (pronounced sook-a-hara) vault, a twisting maneuver she previously hadn't been able to master in competition.

"I never stuck a tsuk (Tsukahara) before. It was the first meet I actually stood it up," said Baptista. "I was so shocked when I landed it. I saw my coach's expression and she was jumping up and down with her jaw dropped open."

Baptista also came through with an impressive floor routine and earned a 9.05 score. The 17-year-old performed her routine to 'What a Feeling,' a song from the movie Flashdance. Part of the routine included a double-back somersault, a move she had never tried in a meet before, but when successfully completed automatically elevated her to Level 10 status.

"I've been working on them since summer," said Baptista. "I was getting more consistent. It was up to me if I had enough guts to do it. It surprised me."

Balance beam is favorite

Surprisingly Baptista doesn't count vaulting or floor exercise as her most satisfying discipline. Instead she prefers tumbling and flipping atop a 16-foot long, 4-inch wide apparatus stationed approximately four feet above the floor.

"Balance beam is probably my favorite. It scares me a lot and makes me nervous but I like it," said Baptista. "I used to love bars a lot but it's my weakest event."

Uneven parallel bars may not be Baptista's favorite but she does admit she's "improved tremendously." Baptista said she needed a release move and had to better her giant swings and did so with practice.

Falls on balance beam have prevented Baptista from reaching a score of 9. She had an 8.2 score on beam at the Palmer meet and averaged 8.4 during the regular season. Baptista said her skills remain consistent, "but I've been changing my series. I haven't been sticking beam."

There is no doubt Baptista eventually will hone all her skills. She practices four times a week and puts in about 13 hours during that span at Paramount Gymnastics in Swansea.

"I like the challenge. There's always a challenge," Baptista said. "There's always room for improvement."

Because of her work ethic, most of Baptista's challenges have been met successfully throughout her gymnastics career. As a matter of fact, she was a USGA regional champion a scant five years ago.

"I think the peak of gymnastics, when I was having the best time, was fifth- or sixth-grade," Baptista said. "All my friends were in gymnastics. It was like a big community, like a big family."

As Baptista progressed, she moved up from level to level while competing in USGA meets against other club gymnasts. Baptista credits former Paramount coach Kim Robinson with playing a major role in improving her skills.

"She used to coach me and then she moved to Florida," said Baptista. "She had a daughter my age and I used to go to her house for sleep-overs. I used to go to so many meets with her. I stayed in the same hotel room in Virginia with her for nationals.

"She passed away December 10. She had rapid growing cancer. She's been an inspiration to me. She's in our hearts."

Perhaps Robinson's death, combined with Baptista's maturation, curbed her enthusiasm for the sport for a short time.

"Last year I took a dip," Baptista said. "I didn't want to go to practice as much. There were so many things I wanted to do. Now I'm managing my time better."

Baptista has dropped softball from her spring-season routine and instead will continue to participate in AAU gymnastics throughout the summer. She also has the lead role in Fatima's school play, 'The Wizard of Oz.'

Come next high school winter sports season, some may be calling the ever-improving athlete the Wizard of Gymnastics.

Baptista forced to wait at regionals

Cara Baptista had a long day but made the most of it when she competed at the New England Gymnastics Championships in Norwich, Conn.

Baptista awoke at 6:30 a.m. and traveled with her parents on another recent snowy, rainy day to Norwich Free Academy to participate in meet warm-ups between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. When they arrived, they learned the meet had been pushed back to 1 p.m. So they sat and talked with other gymnasts and their parents while waiting for the event to begin.

Two teams, Pinkerton Academy of New Hampshire and Danvers High School from Massachusetts, opted not to make the trip because of the driving conditions.

When the meet did start, the Our Lady of Fatima junior vied in floor exercise and vaulting. She earned a 9.35 for her vault and an 8.6 for her floor routine. Her vault score, the best by a Rhode Island gymnast, put her 10th of 31 competitors. She was 28th of 31 on floor.

"I had an off day tumbling," Baptista said. "I thought the floor was kind of hard."

Baptista and her parents left the meet early without learning individual or team finishes. Southington High School (Conn) won the five-team competition and LaSalle Academy was runner-up. Full results can be found at www.casciac.org.

By Steve Rogers

srogers@eastbaynewspapers.com