January 3, 2017 at 6:41 p.m.
Youthful squad opens Thursday
Patriots have six freshman on squad of eight members
Youthful squad opens Thursday
There’s not a single senior on the roster.
The Patriots are absent a junior, too.
So with such a youthful squad, the Jay County High School gymnastics team is looking to build the program.
“Probably the best part about it is knowing that they are hopefully going to be here for a couple years,” said first-year JCHS coach Jill Ranly, whose team opens it season Thursday at home against Marion.
Ranly, a Fort Recovery resident, took over for Lana Kahlig, who recently had a baby but will still have a role as an assistant coach with the team.
The Patriots, who in 2014 advanced to state for the first time in program history, are short on experience. They lost their only senior from a year ago, Miranda Hibbard, and current senior Madelyn Strausburg chose to forgo her senior season to focus on academics. But Strausburg did spend some time practicing with the current squad, helping build up the team.
Riley Leavell and Karlie Bullard return as sophomores, and they are the only non-freshman on the roster. Leavell competed in sectional last year, as the Patriots placed eighth out of 12 teams.
Leavell’s best finish was a tie for 20th on balance beam with an 8.05. She scored 7.0 on uneven bars to tie for 25th, tied for 30th on floor exercise (7.4) and tied for 37th on vault with 8.0. Her all around score of 30.45 was 20th.
Ranly said she’s hopeful Leavell can continue to improve as a sophomore.
“It’s really fun to see her open up because she was a really shy freshman last year,” she said. “I would really like to see her put more personality into her floor routine.”
Bullard is the only other sophomore on the team that features six freshman, and she saw some time on the varsity roster last season but did not compete at sectional. Ranly said seemingly every day Bullard was adding to her skills, and that much of her routine to start the season she wasn’t able to hit last year.
“She has really stepped up her game,” Ranly said. “She’s put a lot of work in.”
Bullard and Leavell will be the two of the four all-around gymnasts, with freshmen Paige Howell and Rachel Louck. Howell and Louck are both cheerleaders and have competed in club gymnastics as well.
“You can tell in their routines that they are polished,” Ranly said. “They also came in in really good shape because of cheer.”
Justice Day, who was a cheerleader in middle school, brings solid tumbling to the squad, and Ranly expects her to have a solid floor routine.
“Justice has the tumbling skills and she puts a lot of personality into her floor routine, so I think that’ll be nice.”
The Patriots are absent a junior, too.
So with such a youthful squad, the Jay County High School gymnastics team is looking to build the program.
“Probably the best part about it is knowing that they are hopefully going to be here for a couple years,” said first-year JCHS coach Jill Ranly, whose team opens it season Thursday at home against Marion.
Ranly, a Fort Recovery resident, took over for Lana Kahlig, who recently had a baby but will still have a role as an assistant coach with the team.
The Patriots, who in 2014 advanced to state for the first time in program history, are short on experience. They lost their only senior from a year ago, Miranda Hibbard, and current senior Madelyn Strausburg chose to forgo her senior season to focus on academics. But Strausburg did spend some time practicing with the current squad, helping build up the team.
Riley Leavell and Karlie Bullard return as sophomores, and they are the only non-freshman on the roster. Leavell competed in sectional last year, as the Patriots placed eighth out of 12 teams.
Leavell’s best finish was a tie for 20th on balance beam with an 8.05. She scored 7.0 on uneven bars to tie for 25th, tied for 30th on floor exercise (7.4) and tied for 37th on vault with 8.0. Her all around score of 30.45 was 20th.
Ranly said she’s hopeful Leavell can continue to improve as a sophomore.
“It’s really fun to see her open up because she was a really shy freshman last year,” she said. “I would really like to see her put more personality into her floor routine.”
Bullard is the only other sophomore on the team that features six freshman, and she saw some time on the varsity roster last season but did not compete at sectional. Ranly said seemingly every day Bullard was adding to her skills, and that much of her routine to start the season she wasn’t able to hit last year.
“She has really stepped up her game,” Ranly said. “She’s put a lot of work in.”
Bullard and Leavell will be the two of the four all-around gymnasts, with freshmen Paige Howell and Rachel Louck. Howell and Louck are both cheerleaders and have competed in club gymnastics as well.
“You can tell in their routines that they are polished,” Ranly said. “They also came in in really good shape because of cheer.”
Justice Day, who was a cheerleader in middle school, brings solid tumbling to the squad, and Ranly expects her to have a solid floor routine.
“Justice has the tumbling skills and she puts a lot of personality into her floor routine, so I think that’ll be nice.”
Other freshmen include Kaitlyn Morningstar, Mariah Salinas and Breanna Suarez.
“Last year we only had one home meet and we won it,” said Ranly, who had IHSAA judge Denise Selvey help the Patriots last week by scoring their routines during practice. “It was a big deal for us because we beat (Richmond, which) had beat us two days before.
“I definitely still think this year we can win meets, especially this first one. I would like to win at least a couple meets this year. That is by no means out of reach.”
After Thursday’s opener, Jay County is off until the Northwestern Invitational on Jan. 21. The Patriots have a beefed-up February schedule, with an invitational at Marion on Feb. 4 before a meet at Richmond with Muncie Central two days later.
Jay County travels to face sectional opponent Carroll on Feb. 13 before hosting Huntington North on Valentine’s Day.
The Patriots then close the regular season Feb. 22 at New Castle. The sectional meet is Feb. 25 at Fort Wayne Concordia.
“Our sectional is really hard,” said Ranly.
Defending sectional and regional champion Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger placed third in the state last season after consecutive runner-up finishes.
Homestead, which is also in the Patriots’ sectional, advanced to the state final last year as well.
In 2015, then-sophomore Lizzy Schoenlein finished tied for sixth in the state on beam. She decided not to compete last season, and Jay County finished without a regional qualifier.
Still, Ranly is hopeful that is not the case this year.
“There are some individuals who could get out of sectional,” she said.
“Last year we only had one home meet and we won it,” said Ranly, who had IHSAA judge Denise Selvey help the Patriots last week by scoring their routines during practice. “It was a big deal for us because we beat (Richmond, which) had beat us two days before.
“I definitely still think this year we can win meets, especially this first one. I would like to win at least a couple meets this year. That is by no means out of reach.”
After Thursday’s opener, Jay County is off until the Northwestern Invitational on Jan. 21. The Patriots have a beefed-up February schedule, with an invitational at Marion on Feb. 4 before a meet at Richmond with Muncie Central two days later.
Jay County travels to face sectional opponent Carroll on Feb. 13 before hosting Huntington North on Valentine’s Day.
The Patriots then close the regular season Feb. 22 at New Castle. The sectional meet is Feb. 25 at Fort Wayne Concordia.
“Our sectional is really hard,” said Ranly.
Defending sectional and regional champion Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger placed third in the state last season after consecutive runner-up finishes.
Homestead, which is also in the Patriots’ sectional, advanced to the state final last year as well.
In 2015, then-sophomore Lizzy Schoenlein finished tied for sixth in the state on beam. She decided not to compete last season, and Jay County finished without a regional qualifier.
Still, Ranly is hopeful that is not the case this year.
“There are some individuals who could get out of sectional,” she said.
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