Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
Four Yelm High School sports medicine students recently took a trip to Las Vegas and competed in the 2025 National Anatomage Tournament with their instructor, Gary Clinton, after qualifying for the event in December.
The 2024-25 YHS national qualifying anatomage team included junior team captain Sofie Miera, senior Brilee Baker, junior Cali Stein and junior Ally Kincaid. They were accompanied on the trip to Las Vegas by their sports medicine instructor, Clinton. The Tornados’ trip spanned from Wednesday, May 28, through Saturday, May 31, with the competition portion itself taking place on May 30 and May 31.
“We had a great trip. It was a great group of students who worked really hard all year,” Clinton said. “Because of the work they put in all year, they made it really easy for themselves to not only have a great time, but have great results and have fun along the way.”
After six months of hard work, studying and preparing for the national competition in Sin City, the Tornados would breeze through the preliminary round — which featured 84 total teams — and found themselves seeded 10th entering the round of 32.
“We had a lot of fun throughout this trip. It was a four-day-long trip, and half of it was recreational activities like visiting the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam,” Miera said. “The competition portion was pretty intense, but also really fun. We made it through the preliminary rounds, and there were 84 total teams there. That round knocked it down to just 32 remaining teams.”
In the round of 32, Yelm students faced local competition, Sultan High School, and ultimately prevailed to qualify for the round of 16.
“We were 10th out of 32 ranked teams. In our first round, we went against the 23rd seed, Sultan High School, which is another team from Washington, and that was cool. We went through the round pretty quick and got everything right except one question, because of the wording,” Baker said. “We still managed to beat them. I think they got more wrong than us — yay, I guess.”
Stein added that in the round of 16, the Tornados were able to score 100% on the identification and physiology questions. Despite their perfect scores, the Tornados ran into another obstacle that prevented the team from advancing to the quarterfinals.
“But we were actually 23 seconds too slow. The team from California ended up beating us, and we actually watched them in the finals,” Stein said. “Mr. Clinton told us they got one wrong. We were hopeful, though.”
“I started sobbing,” Baker added.
Miera said she thought she would cry after finding out the results, but didn’t. She noted she was very disappointed and frustrated that a perfect score wasn’t enough to see her Tornados advance into the quarterfinals. She noted, entering the competition, Clinton’s primary advice to the anatomage team was to “slow it down” and focus on submitting correct answers. She agreed, noting she tends to work fast paced — admitting it’s caused “minor issues” in the past.
“I took his advice and we went slow. We talked it through, and figured we would be able to afford it. It wouldn’t cost us anything, in theory. We ended up getting 100% on our score, but we ended up being too slow. I wasn’t frustrated at anyone, but it was like, what can we do to get past?” Miera questioned. “With a perfect score, you’d figure that was enough to get you past. But having that speed and accuracy is tough, because, in most cases, you only get one or the other.”
Clinton, while reflecting on the team’s results at the National Anatomage Tournament, said the team’s elimination was likely the best exit possible for the Tornados.
“In competition, there’s winners and losers. How you lose speaks volumes about how prepared you were. It’s probably the best case scenario — to lose by doing your best and having it objectively show. Over the course of the year, if we ever missed one, it was one they knew was a mistake but they didn’t speak up in time. The fact they worked through all of these problems together and got them 100% correct, even though they were slower than the other team, it’s better than having made a mistake and lost,” he said. “All of our preparation leading up to that, the kids will have already put a lot of time in. One thing we did differently this year was bring in different medical professionals so they could see the table, and we could then ask them questions related to their different specialties.”
The 2025-26 anatomage team will return Miera, Stein and Cade, though the three noted they’ll miss Baker tremendously. Clinton said the team looks to find a fourth member that will be as dedicated to anatomage as the four students were this school year.
“We talked to the kids already about writing a reflection on this year, what went good, what could’ve been better, and also writing what their goals are for next year,” Clinton said. “We’ve also talked about recruiting one more student to become a member next year. They need to have the same commitment level these three have towards excelling and representing our school and community in the best possible way.”
Miera has high hopes for the 2025-26 anatomage team, as she has her sights set on a “Triple Crown,” where the Tornados would win a Washington State Anatomage Championship, a California State Anatomage Championship and the National Anatomage Tournament 2026. She’s been brainstorming ideas on how to improve the team’s speed and accuracy for next season, and noted that Clinton has “given (the team) permission to go speedy with it.”
Baker, a departing senior, and Kincaid, a returning junior, each reflected on the experience to Las Vegas, describing it as a trip they’ll never forget.
“I’m grateful for Mr. Clinton and his teaching. He’s really brought me out of my shell,” Baker said.
Kincaid added, “I’m glad I got to experience this trip with all of my friends.”
Clinton also expressed his gratitude to Yelm Community Schools and the local Yelm community for their support of the program.
“We’re really thankful for our school and our community for supporting us and giving us the ability to represent this school in the best way possible,” he said.
