Hello Ladies Gymnastics Fans!! It's senior Roxanne Myers here with this week's Gym Talk.
This week was a big week for the Ladies as it was our home opener of the 2024 season. We started the week out a little rocky due to some snow that left all the roads and sidewalks super icy. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the drive to Jill's to practice, but that didn't stop us from (slowly and carefully) walking over to the Fit to get in a productive team workout. After a cardio and strength-filled workout at the Fit, our awesome cheer team let us use their floor to practice our "Lady P" for our upcoming competition. For those of you who don't know, "Lady P" is what we call our presentation on both floor and beam.
One of the goals we set for our home opener was to focus on our Lady P. Might I add, we successfully accomplished that goal with our beautiful beam and floor routines on Sunday. This meet was our Cancer awareness meet where each of the Ladies dedicated our meet to someone who was diagnosed with cancer. In addition to our pink ribbons for Breast Cancer awareness, we each wore another ribbon that corresponded to a type of cancer in support of our dedications. I wore a pink ribbon in support of my mother Linda Myers, who is a breast cancer survivor, and a white ribbon in honor of my Grandma Diana who had lung cancer. Doing the sport that we love for something bigger than ourselves just makes it that much more special. The Ladies were really set up for the day thanks to our lovely parents who decorated our locker room with all things pink for our pink meet. (We love you, moms and dads!!)
After our fantastic fifteen-minute touch warmups, we started off strong on the vault with our incredible vault shakers. Sophomore, Olivia Stratmann earned our top vault score with a 9.65. Moving on to bars we had some beautiful releases from sophomores, Olivia Stratmann and Sophie Schmitz. Freshman, Olivia Williams made her bar debut and did an excellent job. We have been putting in work to focus on the details including hitting our handstands and it's safe to say we have been continuously improving on those more and more each week. Next, we moved onto beam and the ladies were on fire. Junior, Emma Lavelle earned a 9.625, Senior, Rylie Molina earned a 9.6, and Sophomore, Amy Foret earned a 9.5. These ladies nailed their skills and really emphasized their "Lady P." Lastly, the Ladies finished up the meet on the floor. Senior, Izzie Plaza has been putting in the work in the gym and it showed in her graceful floor routine, earning a solid 9.45.
At the end of the night, each coaching staff awarded a student-athlete from their team the Beast Award which is in honor of former Centenary Gymnast Sylvia Keiter. In May of 2018, Sylvia had pulled over on the side of the road to help a person who was having car troubles. While being the kind, gracious, and caring citizen she was known to be, she was hit by a drunk driver. Sylvia was known for her big personality and her run-through-a-brick-wall mentality. Her unconditional love for the sport and support for her team is something we honor by awarding the Beast Award. Our Beast Award was earned by Freshman, Brooke Murdock. Brooke has a fierce work ethic and never lets anything stop her from achieving her goals. She pushes her teammates to be the best they can be while she pushes herself to be the best she can be. I cannot wait to see all the great things Brooke will accomplish throughout her career!
It was bittersweet being in the dome for my last first home meet and I'm sure my fellow seniors will agree, but I wouldn't want to be on my last ride as a Centenary Lady with anyone other than these Ladies! Stay tuned Ladies Gymnastics fans for next week's Gym Talk and I will see you all in Illinois!!
With love,
Senior Roxanne Myers
