July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
For the love of gymnastics (03/18/05)
JCHS gymnastics
For the love of gymnastics (03/18/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
They say if you love something, you should let it go. If it’s meant to be, it will come back to you.
Hannah Williams and gymnastics are a perfect match.
Williams began her gymnastics career at age five and continued through elementary school. When she got to junior high, she dropped the sport in favor of cheerleading and basketball.
But as a Jay County freshman she reunited with gymnastics, “Because I loved it,” Williams said. “It’s fun.”
Her choice to return paid off in a big way as she scored an 11th-place finish at the state meet on the balance beam in 2003. In the process, she led the team to the first of its back-to-back sectional championships.
Now a junior, Williams will head back to the IHSAA Gymnastics State Finals Saturday, this time as an all-around competitor. Opening ceremonies at Perry Meridian High School begin at 12:30 p.m., with competition starting at 1 p.m. The top six competitors in each event will earn a state medal.
“It was amazing to go down (to state) as a freshman and see all those people,” said Williams, who seems not to realize that she too is one of the gymnasts people ooh and ahh over. “It was neat to be a part of it.
“I’m excited about it (going back). This week practice has been pretty good.”
Williams broke through the difficult Huntington North regional to earn her second straight berth in three years. She was the lone gymnasts from the Muncie Central sectional — which got shut out last year — to advance to Perry Meridian.
She will compete in all four events thanks to a fifth-place all-around effort at the regional meet, which included No. 3 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger and sixth-ranked Fort Wayne Northrop. Her score was a 36.6, a personal best and the third-best score in JCHS history.
She was also third on the balance beam with a 9.15 and tied for sixth with all-around champion Jeanna Van Hoey of Dwenger with a 9.5 on the floor exercise.
Those scores show the difference between Williams as a freshman and Williams now. During her first season nines were rare. The 9.0 she scored on the beam at the state meet was just her second all season on the event. Now, nines are the norm.
She credits off-season work — she and her teammates have hit the gym much harder during the last two years, including weekly trips to work out in Marion — with the improvement.
“It helped a lot to get more of the difficulty going to Marion,” said Williams, who has won back-to-back sectional all-around titles and was also first on the floor and uneven parallel bars this year. “The off-season is when you learn different stuff. During the season you have to perfect it.”
Jay County coach Kristin Millspaugh said the push to do more in the off-season has helped even the playing field a bit with the powerhouse schools from Fort Wayne. And, since they’re always working, the Patriots keep themselves in competition shape.
“I think the biggest change is physical strength,” Millspaugh said. “She’s in great shape. ... I’ve seen that change a lot. We’ve got a lot more upper body strength than we had as a team a year ago. That’s the biggest change I see in Hannah. She was always confident enough to try everything.”
Having been to the state meet before, Williams said, will help her be more ready for Saturday because she knows what to expect and she’s experienced the atmosphere of the state stage. And her rotation won’t hurt either.
She follows the team from McCutcheon throughout the day, and will compete in the same order of events normally used at Jay County home meets. She will compete 10th on the vault, 21st on the bars and 35th on the balance beam.
Her strongest event, the floor exercise, will be her final one as she competes 44th among the 46th competitors.
But for the soft-spoken Williams, it’s not really about when she competes, or on what event, or who will be watching. Although she’ll be battling as one of the state’s best athletes, she’s still as humble as ever.
“I’m just glad to get there,” she said. “I just want to do the best that I can.
“I’d like to place. That would be cool. But I just want to do my best — have fun.”[[In-content Ad]]
Hannah Williams and gymnastics are a perfect match.
Williams began her gymnastics career at age five and continued through elementary school. When she got to junior high, she dropped the sport in favor of cheerleading and basketball.
But as a Jay County freshman she reunited with gymnastics, “Because I loved it,” Williams said. “It’s fun.”
Her choice to return paid off in a big way as she scored an 11th-place finish at the state meet on the balance beam in 2003. In the process, she led the team to the first of its back-to-back sectional championships.
Now a junior, Williams will head back to the IHSAA Gymnastics State Finals Saturday, this time as an all-around competitor. Opening ceremonies at Perry Meridian High School begin at 12:30 p.m., with competition starting at 1 p.m. The top six competitors in each event will earn a state medal.
“It was amazing to go down (to state) as a freshman and see all those people,” said Williams, who seems not to realize that she too is one of the gymnasts people ooh and ahh over. “It was neat to be a part of it.
“I’m excited about it (going back). This week practice has been pretty good.”
Williams broke through the difficult Huntington North regional to earn her second straight berth in three years. She was the lone gymnasts from the Muncie Central sectional — which got shut out last year — to advance to Perry Meridian.
She will compete in all four events thanks to a fifth-place all-around effort at the regional meet, which included No. 3 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger and sixth-ranked Fort Wayne Northrop. Her score was a 36.6, a personal best and the third-best score in JCHS history.
She was also third on the balance beam with a 9.15 and tied for sixth with all-around champion Jeanna Van Hoey of Dwenger with a 9.5 on the floor exercise.
Those scores show the difference between Williams as a freshman and Williams now. During her first season nines were rare. The 9.0 she scored on the beam at the state meet was just her second all season on the event. Now, nines are the norm.
She credits off-season work — she and her teammates have hit the gym much harder during the last two years, including weekly trips to work out in Marion — with the improvement.
“It helped a lot to get more of the difficulty going to Marion,” said Williams, who has won back-to-back sectional all-around titles and was also first on the floor and uneven parallel bars this year. “The off-season is when you learn different stuff. During the season you have to perfect it.”
Jay County coach Kristin Millspaugh said the push to do more in the off-season has helped even the playing field a bit with the powerhouse schools from Fort Wayne. And, since they’re always working, the Patriots keep themselves in competition shape.
“I think the biggest change is physical strength,” Millspaugh said. “She’s in great shape. ... I’ve seen that change a lot. We’ve got a lot more upper body strength than we had as a team a year ago. That’s the biggest change I see in Hannah. She was always confident enough to try everything.”
Having been to the state meet before, Williams said, will help her be more ready for Saturday because she knows what to expect and she’s experienced the atmosphere of the state stage. And her rotation won’t hurt either.
She follows the team from McCutcheon throughout the day, and will compete in the same order of events normally used at Jay County home meets. She will compete 10th on the vault, 21st on the bars and 35th on the balance beam.
Her strongest event, the floor exercise, will be her final one as she competes 44th among the 46th competitors.
But for the soft-spoken Williams, it’s not really about when she competes, or on what event, or who will be watching. Although she’ll be battling as one of the state’s best athletes, she’s still as humble as ever.
“I’m just glad to get there,” she said. “I just want to do the best that I can.
“I’d like to place. That would be cool. But I just want to do my best — have fun.”[[In-content Ad]]
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