When Clay junior gymnast Kylee Ault is asked to read off a list of goals she has set for herself this season, her answer came as somewhat of a surprise to the questioner.

She didn't mention defending her City Cup titles in the all-round, floor and vault events. She didn't speak of improving on her 25th-place effort at last year's state meet, or collecting more individual trophies and awards.

“Most of my goals lie with the team,” Ault said. “There are 20 teams in our district and there are about five teams that are really going to be competitive for those top two spots that advance to state. At any given day, any two of us could move on. I just want the team to represent as best we can and I want to have a fun experience.”

That's Kylee Ault in a nutshell.

This year marks the first time that Ault has had enough teammates to qualify for a team award at Clay's meets. She is joined this season by freshmen Jody Demeo, Amtheyst Floyd, Erin Gyurke, Sydney McGath and Emilie Roman.

“They're pretty good,” said Nick Distel, who coaches the Clay squad along with Jessica Reitz. “The biggest thing they need is experience. They're slowly upgrading their skills. By the time districts roll around, they're going to have a really good shot of making it to state.”

Clay recently took first place at the Maumee Invitational and placed second behind Findlay at the 16-team Southview Invitational. Clay also placed second behind Findlay at a tournament hosted by Notre Dame Academy.

“It's exciting to have more girls so I can contribute to a higher team score other than myself,” Ault said. “It makes it more fun. It adds a little more pressure, but not to the point of breaking me. I can show these other girls there's more to it than just individual scores. We can all put together our skills and reach for something that we couldn't do on our own. The most exciting thing is to have the team with me.”

Distel, who has been coaching gymnastics for nearly 18 years, has been Ault's coach since she was 9. He said Ault is one of the most easygoing students he's ever coached.

“She's very level-headed, especially with gymnastics,” he said. “She's never too high or never too low. She always keeps things in perspective. She's a really unique kid to coach, as far as being very level-headed. I think she gets that from her mom (Darci). Watching her from a little kid to a young lady, she's never too high or too low, no matter what the situation is.

“She's improved a lot. She has upgraded and done the necessary things to upgrade every single event, whether it's her strong event or her weak event. I think that will really pay off for her this year.”

One thing Ault is definitely proud of is the fact that she's grown an inch since last year.

“I'm 5-foot-5 and proud to say it,” she said with a chuckle. “With gymnasts' bodies, the pounding on your growth plates usually stunts your growth. Me reaching 5-5 is quite an accomplishment. Gymnasts are usually shorter.”

Distel said, “Three years ago she was excited just because she could go from the ground up and barely touch the high bar. She was excited that she was even growing a little bit. We kid around about it all the time.”

Ault, who also runs track at Clay, said she took little time off from gymnastics after competing in last year's state meet in Hilliard. Gymnastics, Ault said, is a year-round sport.

“If you step away from this too long, you're not going to be able to get back to where you left off,” she said. “Part of it is the fitness level, and the skills you do are as much mental as physical. If you're not used to flipping backward, it's going to take a lot of courage to do that again.”

Ault, who has a 4.2 GPA, heaps tons of praise on Distel. It is clear that gymnast and coach have formed a tight relationship.

“He pushes me to really get all my events in and work as hard as I can,” Ault said. “He works on the slightest technical corrections, and they can make the biggest impact. What he says works 99.9 percent of the time. Nick's put up with a lot from me over the years; we're a good pair. It would be a lot different if I wasn't with him.”

While Ault is looking forward to defending her City Cup titles on Feb. 21 in Maumee, she admitted there are bigger fish to fry down the line.

“I'm really trying to gear toward districts, which is the qualifying meet to state,” she said. “I would like to get back to state because that was an unbelievable experience last year. But, everything's not riding on it. I perform how I perform, and if it's not in the cards for me that day, I would be OK. If I hit my routines, I can walk away from that saying I'm proud to have done it.”

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