Throughout all of the successful winter sports here at Glenbard West, Girls Gymnastics was a standout this year as the team earned the well deserved state title and won many individual awards as well. I had the honor to speak with one of the gymnasts, the talented junior Katherine Hoban, and discuss the team’s dynamic, road to success, and what will come in the program’s future.

Q: Overall, examining the season in its entirety, how would you say it went?

Overall, I think our season went great, very different than past seasons because the majority of our team was new to high school gymnastics. It took time to get them used to competing twice a week and took time for them to be able to hit consistent routines under pressure. Many of them also had to shift to more of a team focus of competing rather than individual. However, once we overcame a few of these obstacles, the talent of our team really proved we were up there with other high scoring teams. The practices were long and a lot of hard work, especially strength and conditioning as a key focus. However, each girl’s drive and commitment helped with our success.
Q: What was it about this group of girls that led to a championship?

I think the group of girls we had on the team this year led us to a championship because they were all extremely hard working in every practice and very committed to the sport. Each one of them competed for the team and for each other at each meet, not just for themselves. The team was also very close and stayed positive throughout each meet, always cheering each other on and getting each other to calm down and have fun before their routines. Also, this was a year where it was very difficult to make line up since only 5 girls get to compete on each event and our varsity consisted of 11 people. This tight competition pushed everyone to work harder in order to get a spot, contributing to our success.
Q: Who were some of your standout gymnasts on certain events?

Every gymnast has a role in our team, whether competing or not. Those who competed at State included Anna Diab, Maddie Diab, Taylor Ramirez, Maia Lee, Abby Myers, and myself, Katherine Hoban. However, a few standout gymnasts were the sisters Anna and Maddie as well as newcomer, Taylor Ramirez. These three gymnasts all made individual event finals and were able to boost our score to a 150.05[. They also] succeeded in prelims for themselves and the team. [All] placed individually and hit solid routines on each of their events. Maia Lee specifically stood out on the vault. Although she struggled a bit on bars and beam, she made up for it with her excellent vault routine. From not vaulting in a meet for over a month, she was able to add about 4 tenths for the team when she hit one of her best ones at state. Abby Myers qualified for state on bars and scored a 9.175 and I qualified on beam, also scoring a 9.175. It was a close meet being in the same rotation as Prairie Ridge, but each girl did their job and did their best for the team.

Q: How did this win impact the program?

This win definitely impacted the program at Glenbard West. We are often referred to as “the wall” because of all the history and every gymnast it takes to build our success. It was the first trophy and championship for girls gymnastics, proving how much the program has grown since it started. We additionally were able to beat the school record from 2016. I think the increasing success will  keep building because we are able to recruit more girls from club and more are wanting to join because of our talent.
Q: What are your goals as a program for next season?

Next season, we have a lot of goals coming off of a state championship. We will lose Lily Abella, a key senior on floor who always kept the team positive. However, she is our only senior while we gain more freshman. Therefore, we are expecting even better things and hopefully the same success. We all plan on working our hardest this off season to achieve these goals and gain new and harder skills to increase our scores. We now have gymnasts with at least a year of experience so consistency should come even easier next year as well.

Congratulate these girls for their incredible season and remarkable success at state when you see them in the halls or in class! Finally, be sure to check out their 2018 season and state videos!