Opposite extremes

The Patriot gymnasts hit both ends of the spectrum, with nothing in between.

Halle Hill and Kenzie Ring are essentially lifelong gymnasts, both with years of experience and competition in leotards.

Kayley Young, Cassidy Upp and Misaal Fatimah are all brand new to the sport.

That dichotomy has created an interesting dynamic as the Jay County High School gymnastics team prepares to open its season at home Thursday against Lincoln.

“We just have a different dynamic from what I’ve had in the past,” said JCHS coach Jill Ranly. “It is kind of interesting. And it’s fun too because the girls who are experienced as teaching the beginners. …

“And the new girls have worked really, really hard to get routines on every event.”

The experienced leaders of the team are senior Halle Hill and junior Kenzie Ring.

Hill competed with a club team during her freshman and sophomore years before joining the high school squad last season. It was short-lived.

She suffered an ankle injury before the second meet and was unable to compete again during the regular season. She made it back for two events at the sectional meet, placing 12th on the bars with an 8.05. She also scored a 7.95 on the balance beam.

In the final meet of her 2018 club season, when she was healthy, Hill placed eighth on the Level 9 floor exercise with a 9.15 at the USA Gymnastics Indiana State Championships.

“She has an awesome first pass that’s got a double full in it,” said Ranly of Hill, who also competed in the International Children’s Games in The Netherlands the summer before her eighth-grade year. “And she’s got some really hard jump and leap combinations as well. She finishes out with a full, which is very difficult to do. I’m looking forward this year to seeing how well it scores at sectional.”

A year ago, the final regional-qualifying score on the floor at the highly competitive Concordia sectional meet was a 9.45 from Homestead’s Yana Weir. Hill’s career-best on the event is a 9.55.

(Her other top scores are 9.0 on beam, 8.9 on vault and 8.075 on bars.)

Ring placed 11th in the all-around at the sectional meet last season with her score of 33.875. Her top individual event was the uneven parallel bars, on which she placed 15th with a 7.925.

In addition to her bars routine, she also throws a full on the floor and a front full dismount from the balance beam. It’s her versatility across all events that makes her extremely valuable, Ranly said.

“Kenzie’s a really great all-around gymnast,” she said. “She competes well in the all-around because she has similar skill levels in all of her events.”

Ranly is hopeful that both Hill and Ring can have a chance to advance from the sectional meet to the regional in a packed field that includes 2019 state runner-up Carroll, Homestead (sixth in the state last season) and perennial power Bishop Dwenger.

For Young, Upp and Fatimah, an exchange student from Pakistan, the goals are different. They’re working on the basics — a quarter on, quarter off the vault; a complete floor routine; being able to stay on the balance beam.

“We’ve been working hard to teach them … everything,” said Ranly.

“High school gymnastics is difficult,” she added. “There’s a lot of rules … so we’ve all been working together to get them ready for their first competition as well.”

The Patriots will have just six regular-season meets this year, with their only other home meet after Thursday coming Feb. 10 against Muncie Central and Richmond. They typically would have started their season earlier with a visit to Marion, but the Giants’ gymnastics program was discontinued.

“We’re just looking forward to competition,” said Ranly. “We’ve been practicing since Thanksgiving pretty much. With having a late start this year … we just want to compete.”