Girls Gymnastics State Preview

Senior Emily Eadens reaches for the bars during her uneven bars routine. Photo by Kate Nixon

Girls gymnastics has state approaching on Oct. 20 at Shawnee Mission South and the all-day long meet will begin at 11 a.m.

To qualify for state, a team needs to be ranked within the top eight of the 15 6A gymnastics schools. After the pre-season, the girls were placed in 6th place.

The Shawnee Mission East team heading to state consists of senior Emily Eadens and juniors Abby Gorman and Brooklyn Beck. They’re hoping to place either 4th or 5th.

A varsity gymnastics team can have up to five members and after completing each event the top three scores from each event are added together. Once each event is totaled the team has a final score for the day out of 120 points.

And since East has only three members on varsity, every person’s score will count so it’s important that all three girls stick their landings and smile big.

On Saturday the day will begin with beam and the team will visualize and walk through their routines.

Once beam is complete, it’s time for floor, which according to Gorman is basically a performance. The gymnasts prepare by focusing on their tumbling and dancing skills, but most importantly letting loose.

Vault comes next and the day will be concluded with bars, one of the more difficult events for the Lancer gymnasts. The team simply wants to keep their feet off the ground and stick their landings, according to Gorman.

Brandi Waruch, the gymnastics coach, said that the girls have been coming to practice early and leaving late with hopes of ending the season on a high note

“They will come out fighting with every tooth and nail,” Waruch said.

While the team already had their biggest meet with all 6A schools, Sunflower League, they are hoping to score well as a team.

“The stakes are a lot higher just because your trying to end your season on a high note,” Gorman said. “You don’t want to be the 8th place team.”

Click the link below to view the individual event winners from 2017.

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1109678279712833537