Balancing the Stakes: The varsity gymnastics team is one of the top three in the district and placed third at the state meet

Junior Andi Prendiville and the other five varsity gymnasts stood up beaming when their team was announced as the overall winners of the Shawnee Mission District gymnastics meet. Prendiville looked around as her friends and family cheered for the team from the stands and the other schools in the district applauded them.

It was the first time Prendiville had ever experienced a first-place win in her high school gymnastics career.

East competed at state on Oct. 26 after their win at districts. So far this season they placed in the top three at every meet. This year they expect to be in the top three at state according to head gymnastics coach Sarah Hink. The district meet was held at Shawnee Mission Northwest which feels like home to the girls, as it is their practice gym.

“Districts was really fun, but districts was also senior night, so that was really special,” senior and team captain Ashley Freund said. “We started off with that [at the beginning of the meet] and [then] we did introductions, and our meet was really strong for a lot of us.”

There are a total of six girls on the team, all upperclassmen who compete in their specific events — beam, bars, floor or vault. The team consists of seniors Freund, Zoe Chaney and Claire Rogers, and juniors Prendiville, Kara Parrett and Phoebe Kaneda.

Freund has been a part of the team since her freshman year and has been able to see the team’s new determination, by showing up to practice every day and getting extra work at club gyms, as they work towards winning state after years of missing the podium at meets.

“Score-wise, we’re doing significantly better,” Freund said. “There hasn’t been a meet where we’ve gotten under third place, which has been huge, because we’re just so not used to that.”

This year, senior Claire Rogers joined the team, and with her experience and skill from the club team, Eagles Gymnastics, she’s been able to add incredible talent to the team and has been a huge scorer for the team, according to Freund.

“She’s been a level 10, which is pretty much the highest you can go in club [gymnastics] for the last couple of years. So having her do East gymnastics has been huge,” Freund said.

The team practices from 3:15-5 p.m. every weekday, then has meets every weekend at various local schools. The amount of practice time and conditioning they put into the sport is a big contributing factor to how much better they have become, according to Prendiville.

“I ideally like them to [practice] at least two of the four events each day, just knowing that it’s hard on their bodies,” Hink said. 

Not only is the sport difficult to be good at, but it’s also a vigorous activity on the gymnasts’ bodies, according to assistant coach and former East gymnast Brooklyn Beck. Injuries are common in gymnastics, and they can be caused by anything from a wonky landing to twisting the wrong way, according to Hink. The girls put in a lot of effort to make sure they are giving their bodies proper care like eating healthy and stretching extensively before competing.

Last season, Freund and Chaney were injured and weren’t able to compete for the majority of the season which made the team placing in meets extremely difficult.

Now, Chaney and Freund have come back for their last season healthy and ready to earn their place at state, which has been a contributing factor to the team’s success this season.

An additional reason for the team’s success this year has been the positive atmosphere and welcoming nature of the team, according to Beck. She attributes the girls’ well-executed routines in competition to affirming them when they get pre-meet jitters or are stressed.

“I think [it’s] been good just learning how they work best at meets,” Beck said. “And a lot of that comes with just encouragement. They’ve already put the work in. So at the meets, I’m just there to encourage them and give them that confidence that they know what to do and that they got it.”

Before the team competed in state, coaches were shortening practices and making the workouts easier so they could perform to their full potential at state, and it paid off with the girls placing third at the state meet.

Alongside making practices less stressful, they also had spirit week leading up to state. The girls will dress up for practice according to the theme assigned to that day, which is a new addition this year. The themes were Monochrome Monday, Tropical Tourist, “On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink”, Throwback Thursday Leotards, and School Spirit.

“We’ve really tried to build up team bonding, so bringing in team dinners again,” Hink said. “This Thursday, we’re going to have a bonfire at my house, just to get the girls excited, but just living in the moment, because we don’t know if we’re going to have it in the years to come, and just enjoying it as much as possible.”