Her coach calls Elyssa Trejo a great leader, someone to guide her team when the trail gets treacherous.

The A&M Consolidated gymnastics team encountered one of those circle-the-wagons moments at the regional meet. The Lady Tigers began the optional competition by struggling on the uneven parallel bars, losing almost half of their two-point lead for the third and final state berth.

Balance beam was Consol's next event, not usually the best apparatus on which to steady the nerves. However, the Lady Tigers delivered on the beam and went on to qualify for the state meet as a team for the first time since 2004.

"We really wanted to go to state as a team, and that was our goal for the entire year," Trejo said. We worked so hard to get there.

"We were terrified [after the uneven bars]. We told ourselves that we were going to go to state, and we had to do good on beam. We stepped it up on beam."

Consol's girls will compete in the 42nd Annual Texas State High School Gymnastics Championships to be held in the Garland Special Events Center starting Thursday. The team standings will be determined after Friday's optional competition, with the top 10 individuals in each event advancing to Saturday finals.

Trejo qualified for state as an individual in the floor exercise last year as a junior. It was soon after the 2007 state meet that Trejo and her teammates set their sites on reaching this year's meet as a team.

"The whole team was very hungry to go to state," Consol coach Julie Foght said. "I have a fantastic group of girls. Along with being fantastic athletes, they are just fantastic kids. When you have that combination, that's when special things are going to happen."

The Consol lineup includes juniors Kathryn Roussel and Trejo, sophomores Jesse Drummond and Lena Serhan, plus freshman Abbie Thompson, who was the Lady Tigers' top finisher at regionals by taking second in the all-around competition.

In her third year with the program and on a team with no seniors, Trejo earns high marks from Foght for her leadership. Foght said Trejo quietly keeps her teammates on task during workouts and helps keep the Lady Tigers calm during meets.

"Somebody has to be a leader, and I'm more than willing to do that," Trejo said. "I hope I'm helping. The girls on this team make it easier to be a leader with the way they cooperate. That's why it's a great team."

Trejo's best event is the floor exercise, but she is competitive on every event. She finished eighth in the all-around at regionals.

In high school gymnastic meets, team scores are based upon a school's top three scores in each event. Foght said she can depend on Trejo in every event.

"She is a very good, steady all-arounder," Foght said. "I can always count on her to put up a good score."

• Larry Bowen's e-mail address is larry.bowen@theeagle.com.