Published: March 5, 2015
Ready for big time
East’s Roberts prepared for the moment
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
The fifth spot in a high school gymnastics rotation is
almost like the clean-up batter in baseball or the clean-up bowler, that person
is usually your best hitter or bowler.
So if something big needs to happen, whomever was in that
spot had to get it done, with no do-over.
West Bend East gymnastics coach Haley Ransom has agonized
over it all season.
“The fifth spot is a hard spot to hold because you have to
wait so long,” Ransom said. “You have to watch everything go on and you have
time for your nerves to get to you, time for you to cool down from warmups.
It’s a really tough spot.”
Zoey Roberts had the No. 5 spot in East’s beam rotation, the
last of Saturday’s sectional. To make it worse on Roberts’ psyche, she had
fallen off the beam in her previous two competitions.
“I was like, ‘If someone is going to step up and hold that
spot, it’s going to be Zoey,’” Ransom said.
Roberts had a few tiny wobbles, but, more importantly, no
falls and scored an 8.85 to move into the fifth and final qualifying spot for
the state meet, which is Friday and Saturday at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High
School.
The team competition is Friday and the individual
competition is Saturday. No county teams qualified for the team competition.
Roberts will be joined at the individual meet with teammate
Brandi Kreger (uneven bars).
West Bend West’s Jenna Heimark (floor exercise) and Jessica
Butters (vault) also qualified for state.
“I’m really excited about that,” Heimark said. “I’ve been
working really hard. It’s been my goal all season. I was real happy with my
score, but I could’ve done better.”
She has, scoring a 9.3 at one point this season. It is her
first state competition as an individual. Heimark competed on balance beam and
uneven bars in the team state competition last year as a sophomore.
With Heimark and Butters qualifying for state, it kept
West’s streak of representation at state alive, a streak which goes back to
2003.
West had gone to state as a team in 2013 and 2014. The
Spartans took fourth at the sectional, with the top-two teams qualifying for
state.
For Roberts, she didn’t flinch.
“I knew my routine had the potential to be really good,”
Roberts said. “I wanted one day for it to be just that good so I can say ‘You
got this.’ I was working so hard.”
Ransom estimated Roberts went through her beam routine in
practice leading into the sectional a couple hundred times. Roberts gave a more
feasible estimation, three or four times every day in practice, bringing the
tally to about 15-20 times. There were good, bad and OK routines.
Roberts also had all kinds of mind games played on her.
At times, her teammates and coaches would scream, hoot and
holler at her, or crack jokes to try and make her laugh. Or there would be no
sounds at all. It’d just be her on the beam, much like how it was during her
routine Saturday.
Roberts also hinted there may have been times she was
sprayed with water.
These were all done to improve mental toughness, which is a
vital part of a balance beam routine where the surface area is only a matter of
inches and a fall off the beam costs a gymnast 0.5 points.
“All season I’ve been dying for Zoey to make it (to state)
for beam,” Ransom said. “She’s been so driven on that event; that was her
focus; she knew that was her strongest event.”
“It worked out great,” Roberts said.
The falls in her previous two meets were on her mind,
though.
“I didn’t want that to happen again,” Roberts said. “Both
times were such stupid things that I could’ve fixed. It made me really mad
because I know I’ve done those in practice so well.”
Ransom admired the sophomore’s determination and ability to
be mentally tough.
“She’s been going above and beyond for the past month in
practice,” Ransom said. “She’s been super driven. She knew what she wanted and
she went and got it. I was so proud of her.
“When she stuck the landing, I was like, ‘She’s going. She’s
got it.’ It was a beautiful routine.”
With Roberts and Kreger going to state, it is the first time
East has sent more than one gymnast to state since 2006, when the Suns went to
state as a team.
“We’re so excited two of us made it,” Roberts said. “We had
hoped for more than one of us to make it. The fact that it happened is so
exciting.”
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