Lady Pilgrims wrap-up another great season
PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth High School girls gymnastics team finished its season last weekend at the Huntington North Regional meet. Although the Lady Pilgrims did not perform nearly as well as the week before at sectionals, it was still another banner year for the PHS gymnasts.
It seemed like every weekend at the end of the season the team was breaking the scoring record. In fact, they did so three times in all, the last coming at the Wawasee Sectional where they finished second and senior Tessa Hutchinson was the all-around winner. Other season highlights included going undefeated in dual meets, winning the Logansport and Western Invitationals in back-toback years, and winning its home invite for the first time.
“They’ve had a great season,” said head coach Amanda Bender. “They’ve had a record season. There’s a lot to be proud of.”
Hutchinson formed a solid 1-2 punch last year with Dorothy Karris and took over the helm as the team’s leader this season. The only other upperclassman, Kasi Harner, was also program stalwart as an all-around performer. Newcomer Jersey Hunter introduced herself to the program in a big way. The freshman scored valuable points all season and finished 9th overall in the allaround at her first regional. Others who will play an even larger role moving forward include Arielle Ferman, Rowynn Halldavis, Joy Everett and Lila Hanyzewski.
“It will be tough to replace Tessa and Kasi, but as a team collectively, if we can elevate, we’ll be right back where we are,” added Bender, who has been blessed with one of the largest squads in the area the past few seasons. “I think our team atmosphere has a lot to do with it. I think these girls are a great group and very genuinely get along with each other all across the board.”
(Rudy Marquez contributed to this story)
Gym sights and sounds
Due to a number of factors (like covering over 60 basketball games, plus the occasional wrestling match and swim meet), I don’t get to see a lot of gymnastics meets in person. This year I was only able to see one live and that was sectionals. I am truly amazed though, every time I go. These girls are great athletes and it is a very difficult sport. Here are a few other observations:
Pageantry - The introductions of the lineups is certainly different. I’ve never seen a basketball intro that included faces painted or the athletes carrying flowers and/or stuffed animals.
Difficulty - A back flip on the balance beam? Are you kidding? And anything on the uneven bars. Most of the skills performed are amazingly difficult.
Equipment - There is so much of it and teams will bring a lot of their own stuff. Just setting up the uneven bars would be a day’s workout for me. Oh yeah, there is chalk everywhere.
Injuries - Obviously, gymnasts are not running into others like in football/ soccer/basketball, but it seems like every athlete has something taped or bandaged. This is a demanding sport.
Sportsmanship - The genuine rooting for the other teams is unlike any other sport. Very impressive.
Music - A wide variety of music is used for the floor exercise. Some of the songs I actually recognized. If you happen to be performing at another event, you will hear the music too. At times it is really loud during the meet. Other times it can be so quiet you can hear a word of encouragement coming from clear across the gym. No one is going to turn off the music though, just because you need to concentrate on the beam. You have to block it out.
Body language/facial expressions
- It’s pretty easy to tell how an athlete is doing by their body language and facial expressions, especially on the floor exercise. After each pass you can immediately tell how they did by their reaction. Speaking of floor …
Most enjoyable event
It seems like floor exercise is the favorite event for most athletes. Maybe it’s the music, the freedom, the longer time to perform or a combination. It’s funny to watch the performers’ teammates on the sidelines. They have seen the routines so much that they will mimic certain sequences of that routine while it is being performed.
Most dangerous event - My guess is the bars. Unfortunately, I have seen some bad crashes there. I can’t imagine what some of the wipeouts during practice must look like.
Scores - One change I would like to see is some way of showing a team’s running score during the meet - either posted or at least announced. Since you have no idea though, it does add to the excitement at the end when you hear the final results.