State gymnastics meet offers finish line, but journey of growth drives three Wildcats

No pain, no gain  -- excruciating work and drive has landed three of West’s gymnasts at state competition. Team leader and junior Janiyah Ford knows her responsibilities and how to go about them.

“I don’t really feel that I’ve accomplished anything by being the team leader. I’m honestly just happy that the coaches felt I was good and chose me,” she said. “Coming into high school gymnastics is completely different from club gymnastics. Since I’m a person that’s experienced, people can talk to me and ask me questions.”

Sophomore Lydia Barr experiences a sense of proud accomplishment after making it to state this season. 

“I feel accomplished because I worked hard all season, and this is just what I was hoping for,” she said.

Sophomore Neva Schlies was thrilled to pass the finish line in her first attempt.

“A very good sense of ‘you did it’ ‘you made it to the end goal’” she said. “I know for a lot of people that’s the goal, and it’s very cool, with this being my first year, getting to go do that.”

 Though Schlies had the pride of making it, the glow unfortunately faded as she saw her score at state. Similar to her, Barr hit some hard spots, but she keeps a positive outlook. 

“I fell twice at state,” she said. “We started on floor and I fell on my one and half so I didn’t get a very good score. I was surprised though because the score was good for a fall. Then I got a vault PR at state, so that was exciting. Then at bars I just got a typical score. Beam, I fell so I didn’t get the score I wanted, but overall it was a good experience.”

Barr felt a feeling of shock after her qualifying scores for state. 

“I wasn’t really expecting to qualify for bars because I didn’t make it last year,” she said. “I kind of had a feeling about floor since it’s one of my better events. I was hoping to go for beam, but that didn’t happen. I’m still happy about bars and floor.”

On the contrary, Ford believes state went well even though it’s not what the gymnasts expected. 

“At state, they were scoring significantly lower, so I didn’t really feel too good about my score,” she said “I don’t think any of us did, honestly, but we were happy to be there, so that’s all that matters.”

For the girls, finding out they qualified was a mutual expression of joy.

“I was really happy and I was really in shock honestly,” Ford said. “But I was just happy that the one goal I wanted to come true happened. I was really excited.” 

Schlies agreed that, overall, everything went well and just being at state made it a great day. 

“It was exciting because, again in my first year, I got to go to state and perform in the big world of gymnastics,” Schlies said.

Barr shared the anticipation most people feel when places are called the inevitable and the, ‘I didn’t make it’ feeling, though for her it was replaced by the knowledge that she did make it.

“For all-around they just kept calling girls so I didn’t think I made it, but then I got called for second place and that was amazing,” she said. 

 Ford had hoped to qualify for beam originally, but she didn’t expect anything.

“I knew there was a small chance I’d qualify for vault, but I also know that people are doing skills like Tsuks and Yurchenkos,” she said. “I just ignored that and focused on myself. I was a little surprised. I wasn't expecting anything, so the outcome can be completely different from what you’re expecting. I was just hoping for the best.”

 Tsuks and Yurchenkos are some of the most technically challenging vaults in women's gymnastics, involving flips and turns of all kings. Ford did two different skills for her vault runs, one being a half-half and the other being a half-full. The skill is so difficult due to the small technical standpoints.

“Going onto the springboard, you need to be on the bouncy part because if you’re on the back, it’s going to hurt your shins and you’re not going to get any bounce,” she said. “Then you have to have a good block off the table and you can’t have your arms bent or else your twist is going to be horrible, and you really just have to spot, I think spotting is key because because if you don’t spot then you’re going to fall or it’s just not going to be good.”

Schlies competed on floor, which jolted her spirit given her love for the event.

“Floor’s my number one event and I’ve been scoring decent enough to go to state all year,” she said. “My handful is my cleanest pass and it’s really fun to do.” 

The skill that stood out to Schlies as the most difficult is definitely one that represents gymnastics as a precision sport.

 “My one and half, if you take off wrong you’re not landing it,” she said. “It ultimately comes down to precision with that skill.”

Barr’s most difficult skills for bars and floor are ones that are challenging for most gymnasts. 

“For bars I competed giants, which were fun,” she said. “I just learned them over the summer. It was nice to learn again, since I had a mental block while I was in club, then I relearned them. Floor, I did a one and a half, which was pretty tricky because you just have to get it exactly right to land it well.” 

Giants are when the gymnast controls their body enough to swing their entire body around the bar, with straight arms and a straight body form. Recapping the season all in all is an easy thing for gymnasts given the success and happiness the season provided.

“It was a really good experience, full of many accomplishments: sectionals, qualifying for state. It was really good for the team, a lot of new girls joined and a lot of new friendships were made,” Barr said.

Ford shares the same view, and believes this season was above others.

“I feel like overall there were a lot of ups and downs, but towards the end of the season I really locked in,” she said. “It was really fun; I had a lot of fun with the people this year, and I got my love for the sport back, which is really surprising because I never thought I would love it as much as I used to again.”

by Ashley Schumann

Published on April 1 2024

Oshkosh West Index volume 120 issue VI