|
There's still a month left in the regular season before the Northwest District gymnastics meet is held at Bowling Green State University.
If things continue to progress the way the are, Clay coach Nick Distel is confident the Eagles can make a return trip to the state meet. The district tournament is Feb. 24.
“The team is doing real well,” Distel said. “We've had a couple struggles here in the season, which is what I expected. All the girls are really contributing and making it a team thing.”
The Eagles, who last year were in their first season of having a full squad, advanced to the state meet in Hilliard and took 11th out of 12 teams. That squad returned intact this season and includes one senior, Kylee Ault, and sophomores Jody DeMeo, Erin Gyurke, Emilie Roman, Amtheyst Floyd and Sydney McGath.
The Eagles have won all four meets they have competed in this season.
On Monday, they competed in a tournament hosted by Whitmer at Sunrise Gymnastics Academy in Sylvania and scored the most points in team history. The meet included teams and individuals from Whitmer, Central Catholic, Notre Dame Academy, Anthony Wayne, and Toledo Christian.
“We scored a team-record 136.9 points,” Distel said. “There are six kids in the lineup and they take the top four scores for four events — vault, floor, beam and bars. Kylee had the highest score, followed by Jody, Erin, Emilie and Amtheyst.”
Distel admitted he was somewhat surprised by the Eagles' point total at the Whitmer event, given that they had been scoring between 132 and 134 points this season “and because they’ve been falling all over the place.”
“Even (Monday) we had a couple falls we had to take,” the coach said. “But, we were a lot better. Everybody is just solid. Nothing spectacular. There are a lot of good gymnasts in Northwest Ohio. It's going to be hard for Kylee to make the top five at districts this year.
“As a team, we’re pretty deep. The sophomores have really stepped up this year and done a nice job. The top two teams out of districts make it to state and that’s definitely their goal. They won districts last year and they should finish in the top two next month. If we make all our routines, we should be good.”
Distel said DeMeo has really stepped up her game this season.
“The girls have to come to me in November and Jody started practicing with us in September, with a club team,” Distel said. “She decided she wanted to start training and she gave me a better chance to get to know her. She's a kid who works extremely hard in the gym. She is very clean, as we say in gymnastics. She should be more confident in herself because she’s a very hard worker and she listens extremely well.
“All of the sophomores are doing a really good job. Erin definitely helped out (Monday). It’s definitely a solid team effort. They get along really well. It’s about the team, which makes it easy for me to coach.”
Clay's next meet is this weekend at Worthington Kilbourne High School near Columbus. Kilbourne finished sixth at last year's state meet.
“I wanted to get them out of our district, just to see some other competition,” Distel said. “Sometimes we tend to see the same teams over and over. I want to get them outside the district and get a chance to travel. If we do make state, they’ll have experience out of town and seeing different teams.”
 |
Sports 
Subscribe to this comment's feed