Jay Co. hopes to stay healthy

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The Patriots were bitten by the injury bug most of last season.

Almost everyone on the squad was fighting an ailment, or missed time, at some point.

The Jay County High School gymnastics team is hoping to keep the injuries to a minimum and improve on consecutive ninth-place finishes at sectional.

“Right now, knock on wood, we are all healthy,” said JCHS coach Jill Ranly, whose team opens its season Thursday at Marion. “One of my goals to start with is to make sure everyone is progressing a little bit slower and not push tough skills at the beginning to make sure they were in good shape so we stay injury free.”

And of course, performing better on the balance beam has been the main focus.

“We have worked on that a lot to try to get more beam routines that lack falls,” Ranly said.

Karlie Bullard is one of three juniors on the squad that is without a single senior. Bullard, who was the top competitor for Jay County as a sophomore, set a career-best all-around score as a sophomore, and Ranly is hopeful she can build on that in addition to reaching regional.

“We’ve talked about that already,” Ranly said. Bullard’s career-best is 34.25, and she scored 32.6 at sectional to finish 19th. “(There are) certain things she’s going to have to do if she wants to get out of sectional, to push herself a little farther out of her comfort zone. She likes to do things perfectly.”

Riley Leavell, another junior, has been concentrating on her beam routine.

At sectional last year, she didn’t get solid footing on her mount and fell off.

“Riley’s beam routine is capable of getting a really high score because of the combination of skills in it,” Ranly said. “If she can keep her falls to a minimum on beam she should have high scores on beam too.”

Randi Ferguson rounds out the junior class and is competing at the high school level for the first time. A former cheerleader, she has the tumbling skills, and Ranly said she hopes Ferguson’s work ethic in the gym will pay off on the mat.

Rachel Louck and Paige Howell enter their respective sophomore seasons having contributed to the squad as freshmen. Howell set career-bests at sectional on both floor exercise (7.95) and all-around (28.6). She has 16 consecutive no-fall beam routines leading up to the season-opener. She’s also been concentrating on improving that floor score as well as gaining more confidence on uneven bars.

“Not too keen on bars because that’s what she got injured on last year,” Ranly said. Howell fought a back injury the last month of the season. “She goes right back up and is kind of stepping outside her comfort zone for me. She’s working really hard.”

Classmate Kaitlyn Morningstar saw some varsity action last season but also got hurt. Ranly is expecting her to have a better year as a sophomore.

Fellow sophomores Lexus Harding and Kionah Hartzell will each be competing in a handful of events as they aren’t quite all-around competitors just yet.

Kenzie Ring, the lone freshman on the team, has competed in club with JC Tumbling & Gymnastics in rural Portland, and Ranly is excited to see what she can do at the high school level.

“She’s fun,” Ranly said. “She’s a hard worker. She has some good skills. She reminds me of Karlie; she expects perfection out of herself all the time.

“Kenzie will be helping us out on our team score immensely.”

Ranly has a nine-member squad to work with, and this year she’ll be challenged with finding the right lineup during the short season. The Patriots’ only home meet is Feb. 5 against Muncie Central and Richmond.

“It’s really interesting because I have to look at things a little differently,” she said. Last year she had the same lineup each night, except perhaps filled a void here and there because of injuries. This year she has versatility within her team so she can put together a lineup that can give the Patriots their best score.

“Our lineup is going to change a lot because I want to give the girls that have a routine that are varsity level a chance to get in there,” she said. “I’m torn. I’m torn between a lot of things as far as lineups go.”