Katie did it

MUNCIE — A 12-year career came down to a single event — two vaults for Katie Snyder to try to reach goals she had been chasing for four seasons.
She nailed both attempts, and then she waited.
When her score flashed, she dropped into a crouch, hands covering her mouth in disbelief, and then looked up at her family and friends to see their reactions as the scoreboard turned. It showed 9.675, a school record, cementing her place in Patriot history.
Snyder’s effort on the vault broke the Jay County High School mark held by Danae Klatt that had stood for more than a decade.
“I wanted to just cry,” Snyder said. “I don’t know what to say.”
The score had her in medal position, but only for a moment. As she was reacting to her score, Angola’s Alex Nickel was in the process of earning a 9.7 that bumped Snyder to seventh place.
Emily Clancy of Columbus East later posted a 9.8, leaving Portage’s Madison Kurtz and Nickel tied for sixth place and Snyder just 0.025 points behind them in eighth out of 49 competitors.
The top six athletes on each event and in the all-around competition earned state medals.
“I don’t think you could have asked for much more than that,” said JCHS coach Lora Schlosser. “She did her best vault she’s ever done in her life, scored the best, broke the school record. It was a nice finish.”
Vault was especially competitive at the state finals this year, with Morgan Algozine of Valparaiso repeating as the state champion with a 9.875. Snyder’s 9.675 would have been good enough for a medal in each of the previous four seasons, and the sixth-place score a year ago was a 9.55.
Portage knocked off Valparaiso, a team it had finished second to at both the sectional and regional levels, to earn the team title, 112.6-112.1. Bishop Dwenger was third at 110.975.
Other individual event winners were Algozine on bars (9.7), Owen Valley’s Anna Watkin on beam (9.575) and Portage’s Mackenzie Barcelli on floor (9.675). Barcelli also scored a 38.325 to take the all-around title.
Snyder headed to the vault, her final event of the day, having not performed to the level she had hoped for on her first three events. But she didn’t let those issues get to her.
“I was just like, ‘All right, this is your last event. Just go. Just do it,’” said Snyder, who finished seventh at the state finals last season with a 9.475. “I just knew I had to go in and do a vault. I wasn’t even thinking school record or medal or anything at the time.”
Everything about her Yurchenko — a round-off onto the springboard followed by a back handspring onto the vaulting table and then a somersault — was about as perfect as it could be.
Snyder hit the back handspring as well as she has all season, staying straight and getting a good block off of the vault. Her somersault, in the pike position, was tight, and she nailed the landing.
Her second attempt was just as good, if not better.
“I hit them both, didn’t move, wobble, nothing,” said Snyder. “My (entry) was a whole lot cleaner.”
Added Schlosser: “She had a good, strong back handspring. A lot of times she’s bent and archy. … She had nice height, showed the nice, deep pike, and stuck a landing.”
All she could do then was wait, and the judges rewarded her with the best score of her career. She broke the school record of 9.575 set by Danae Klatt in 2000 by a full tenth of a point.
Her score was the highest ever recorded by a Jay County gymnast at the state finals on any event.
“She’s just a hard worker,” said Schlosser. “She has been since day one. … She just always kept a level head … She’s elevated her skills. … She’s just improved, improved, improved. She’s done very well for herself.”
Snyder had struggled on her first three events of the day, starting when she fell on her toe hecht from the low bar to the high bar. She also had a fall on the balance beam as she scored in the 7s on both events.
She was stronger on the floor exercise, where she posted her second-best event finish of the day with an 8.65 for 36th place.
Snyder, who was 30th in the all-around competition at 34.025, placed 47th on the bars (7.75) and 48th on the beam (7.95).
But she came back focused on the vault and reached the school-record goal she had been chasing ever since competing on the event at the state finals during her freshman season.
“It’s exciting,” said Snyder. “I didn’t want to end with the all-around score I had … but I got a school record. I can’t be mad about that.”[[In-content Ad]]