Beating the Indians

Lauren Kutcka, Print Staff

 On Jan. 14, the girls gymnastics team competed against the Portage Indians. The girls won the meet with a score of 105.95-104.6. One of the girls competing was Julie Wasyliw (12), who felt that she had a better meet compared to her last one.

   “Personally, I did much better at this meet compared to our previous meet at Valpo pairs. There are still some skills that I can definitely improve on though,” Wasyliw said.

   While trying to improve on some of her skills for this season, Wasyliw tried to keep herself motivated. With her senior season and COVID-19, she tries to make every meet count as if it’s going to be her last. 

   “I’ve been keeping motivated this year because this is my senior year. Every meet counts, and, especially with COVID, we can’t count on every meet in a way. Our meets can be canceled along with our whole season at any given moment. I’m trying to treat every meet as my last,” Wasyliw said.

   With the thought that the season could get canceled at any time, the team is still trying to keep each other and other teams safe. The girls are taking precautions with cleaning mats before they switch for events and wearing a mask while trying to keep a safe distance.

   “At meets, we’ve been cleaning the mats every time we switch events with a different team. We have also been wearing masks and trying to keep six feet apart as much as possible. The team also had a COVID scare, so we’ve definitely been paying attention to how close we are to one another. Overall, I think the team has been paying attention to guidelines for the most part. We haven’t had walk-outs this year before a meet starts to prevent being close to one another. We have also been carrying this out into practice. We stretch and warm up with our masks on and keep distance until we actually begin running through routines and different events,” Wasyliw said. 

   The girls are making sure they are keeping a safe distance at both meets and practices, while still making sure everything is clean for both themselves and other teams. Even with Wasyliw’s last season with the Varsity team, she still has goals that she wants to hit before her season ends.

   “My goals are to improve my scores as much as I can and just perform to the best of my ability. I also hope to have a beam routine by the end of the season, because I am currently only competing in floor and vault. I also want to have as much fun as I can with my team,” Wasyliw said.