Spartan gymnasts celebrate a successful season. photo courtesy of Gabby Harrison
Gymnastics concludes the year with the best season yet.
Dominating at City, Regionals, and State, Gymnastics concluded one of their most successful seasons to date. While having a new coach, losing players from previous years, and practicing in a crowded gym, the Lady Spartans revealed they are a resilient team, taking the sport to new levels as they went undefeated in DPS.
Going into the City competition, the team faced tough opposition including Denver East, John F. Kennedy, George Washington, and South. Team captain and senior Gabby Harrison described the atmosphere as “tense because it was such a close competition.” The new year brought many challenges which prompted the girls to put forth their best performance. Heading into Regionals, Harrison stated, “We all did really well; we scored our season best and four of us qualified for state.” Harrison, Junior Caroline Cech, and sophomores Chloe Richter and Tori Conroy all qualified for State, which took place on November 6. Following State, the season concluded, with the entire team leaving victorious and determined to come back together next year.
Overall, Gymnastics had a very unique year, as they changed up the dynamic during practice and worked harder in general, mostly as a result of the new coach, Molly Sifers. The Lady Spartans enhanced their skills as “[Sifers] was able to tell us what we needed to improve and work on,” explained Harrison. Currently, the team has worked hard every day to achieve such a fantastic season, from helping each other in practice with routines to supporting each other at competitions.
Cech proved to be an invaluable team member, representing her school with pride at City, State, and Regionals. While preparing for meets, Cech also ran cross country. She described, “It was kind of hard only going to two practices a week and trying to keep up my skills and perform to the best of my ability.” However, with the help of her fellow teammates, Cech had an impressive season. Cech became champion and all around champion for the City meet. For State, she was the alternate on beam and after completing all four of her events she placed 15th in her division. Being a part of a gymnastics team takes a huge amount of dedication and the girls would not have found as much success without the support of each other.
At the end of the season, the Lady Spartans took great pride in winning City for the first time and having so many individuals qualify for State. Bidding farewell to her teammates, Harrison concluded, “It’s really fun being the captain of a great team. We all work really hard and I like being able to help my team with their skills and routines. It’s been a great year for us and hopefully next year will be too!” Although Harrison will not be present next season, the team has benefited from her leadership.
When the season concluded following State, the entire team left victorious and determined to come back together next year to hopefully continue their fantastic winning streak. Such accomplishments catapult the gymnastics program as a whole and encourage other young athletes to achieve great things.
