Girls gymnastics made the Vikings proud after having to face a tragic loss during the season.
The team faced a horrible loss of one of their coaches, Jon Rus, the day of their first practice. “Losing a coach the day before season started was really hard for all of us,” senior captain Kaitlin Karlin said. “Jon was a funny guy, he pushed us really hard and we had grown very used to him being there. He was so funny and just a really good coach, so that first week was rough. It was a lot of figuring out what was next and keeping each us motivated, however that event made our team closer than probably any other team out there. We have a family on the gymnastics team, not just a team.”
However, even with that major loss, the girls worked their hardest and placed fourth, missing third place in conference by only .4 points. With regard to conference, one of the head coaches, Charlie Friedman said, “I am not disappointed with their performance. For example, Nicole Hawel and Lilly Wong both added a back tuck into their floor routines and competed with it for the first time at that meet. That is a huge step and they went for it and succeeded.”
The Vikings still managed to send one of their senior captains, Britanny Ebeling, to sectionals, which was held at Niles North. Even though she was not able to place in sectionals, Ebeling still put up a good fight and threw a double full as her first pass.
The team this year had only two returning seniors — captains Karlin and Ebeling. They were all-round competitors at the varsity level, since many of the varsity players had graduated. “They are the core of the team this year; it will be hard to see them go,” Friedman said.
“We had such a new team with little to no experience on varsity. We did pretty well. Everyone got new experiences and chances to push themselves to new levels which was great to see,” Karlin said.
Every player was full of drive and was ready to achieve new goals and skills, according to Friedman. In order to improve, the girls are going to “work hard this summer and in the off-season to obtain higher difficulty so we can make an impact during next years season,” Friedman said.
One of their goals for next year is going to be overcoming fear and to trust themselves. Yet no matter what, the Vikings remain a family and always support each other.
“I’m really sad that I have to leave ‘my family’ behind,” Karlin said. “They all are awesome people; they are the funniest, nicest, and greatest girls ever. No matter what happens you always have to remember that you can do anything; you just have to know that you can do it. I love them and they are just awesome.”
“They are hard workers who know that what they need to do is work their butts off,” Karlin continued, “so I know that they will truly continue to improve. Plus, our coaches push us so I know that they won’t slack off. They are strong girls with a lot of leadership capability; I know someone will step up.”
The Vikings have to be ready for next year’s conference as Deerfield was able to rebound from a 3rd place finish last year to win the title this year.
“It just goes to show that each year is a new ball game in high school gymnastics. You never know who is going to win,” Friedman said.
