The varsity gymnastics team headed off to a highly anticipated meet against Merrillville on Thursday, Jan. 19. Although the girls lost 108.525 to 100.625, they are proud of their performance at this meet.
“The girls have been looking forward to Merrillville. They love their floor because it’s an Olympic floor–actually an old Olympic floor–and they love the girls there. They didn’t disappoint me by any measure. They did a fantastic job and broke a hundred, which is awesome especially this early on in the season,” coach Myra Lolkema said.
Standout gymnasts included Gabrielle DeVries (10) and Sophia Born (10), however, all of the girls “shined at their own moment” according to Lolkema. Another standout was Maya Tobin (12), who set a new personal best at this meet.
“Personally, I think I did really good. I actually got my personal best on beam. I got an 8 for the first time, so that was exciting. My goal is to keep my scores going up. So far every meet, I’ve had higher scores on every event, so that’s really exciting,” Tobin said.
The team faces off next against Valparaiso on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Although the Vikings are expected to be a tough competitor, the girls are taking the meet with a positive attitude.
“Valpo is one of the strongest teams in the state. A lot of times we go into those meets knowing we’re scoring 100, and they’re scoring 110. Honestly, winning is not the point when we go into those meets; it’s let’s go, let’s compete, let’s see what we can do, let’s see the scores we can get,” Lolkema said.
