Jay sets high bar

The bar is set high for the Jay County High School gymnastics team.
Not just the uneven bars, either.
The Patriots are coming off a season in which they advanced to the state meet for the first time in team history.
They want to get back to Ball State University’s Worthen Arena this year, and a new coach will try to help them reach their goal.
“A lot is expected of me as the coach and I expect a lot out of the girls,” said first-year coach Lana Kahlig, whose team opens its season Thursday at home against Marion. “The girls this year are really working hard. They’re going the extra mile in practice and (with their) conditioning.”
The experience at state last year — Jay County finished ninth — is something Malarie Houck said the Patriots can use to their advantage.
“It’s definitely given us confidence. We believe in ourselves a lot more and we know it’s possible,” said Houck, the lone senior on the squad. “I think it helps us work harder because we know it’s a reality.”
Jay County’s state team had not lost a regular-season meet in two years. This year, it returns four of the six state finals competitors. Sophomore’s Lizzy Schoenlein, Maddie Strausburg and Jocelyn Huey all competed at state with Houck.
The Patriots will be without Tasya Smith and Rhianon Mills, but add freshman Courtney Miles, who competed in the International Children’s Games in August 2013.
“She’ll be on all-around and hopefully will be one of our top competitors,” Kahlig said of the freshman.
Smith, who placed 25th in the state on uneven bars, was a big contributor to the Patriots last season. But Houck is confident the addition of Miles and other freshmen — Sydnee Lee and McKenna Daniels — will be able to help the team.
Junior Miranda Hibbard and Miles will join Schoenlein, Houck, Strausburg and Huey on the varsity roster, and each of them will vie for the four all-around spots.
With a strong core returning, Kahlig said she is hopeful they can place higher at the state level. Schoenlein was 20th on the floor exercise last year as the best finish for Jay County.
But that’s not all Kahlig is expecting out of them, either.
“Hopefully we get some more leadership this year, so when we get to state we finish near the top.”
Sophomores Leearah Eldrige and Giannina Perod and junior Erica Swingley round out the 11-member team.
While Schoenlein said the entire team is itching to get back to the state finals, she has an individual goal she would like to accomplish as well.
“By the time I graduate, I’d like to break the (balance) beam record,” she said. Nadlie Runyon, who was a state medalist in the event during her junior season, holds the best mark in school history with a 9.6 she set in 2009. Schoenlein’s career-best on the beam is a 9.4.
Kahlig is hoping the Patriots can make a run at the rest of the records too.
The oldest is the team score of 108.05, set in 2000. The newest, is 2013 graduate Katie Synder’s 9.675 on the vault, a score she reached at the state finals during her senior season.
“Skill-wise, we have been really upping our game,” said Kahlig, noting the girls are adding skills to their routines to give them higher starting values. “Their routines are set pretty high this year.”