"Consistency" name of the game for Central gymnastics teams headed back to state

The Central girls and boys gymnastics teams are competing in the state meet, again.

It is no secret in Texas high school gymnastics that San Angelo Central has one of the most successful and storied programs.

After last year's state championship, the Lady Cats amassed their 13th state championship, and fifth consecutive under coach Tony Walker who led the team to his first championship with the team in 1989. The boys program led by Kern Arrott last won the state championship in 2015, but has been a perennial state participant finishing seventh overall in 2023.

The Lady Cats and Bobcats swept the regional meets again this year with the girls scoring 232.950 points after two days and the boys totaling 324.800. The girls enter state as the favorites, while the improved boys team is seeded fifth and could medal if things fall their way. However, Walker said nothing is guaranteed and the gold medal will go to whoever is the most consistent.

"If you want to hang in there (at the state meet) for the second day, you have to be spot on the first day," Walker said."Because with compulsory it's going to be so close — within tenths (of a point)... going into the second day we're probably the strongest team because we have the higher values of star routine and difficulty level."

On the first day of the district, regional and state meets, every athlete does the same specific routine at each event, known as compulsory. On the second day, teams and athletes compete against each other with different routines which is optional gymnastics — where Central separates itself from the pack.

At regionals, the Lady Cats finished the first day with 117.350 points which was almost one point ahead of second-place El Paso Bel Air, and on the second day, they finished with 115.600 points, roughly nine points ahead of El Paso Eastwood, the second-place finishers in optional. The boys did the same thing finishing compulsory with 117.350 and optional at 152.400.

"Bars, beam and vault are crucial on those second days," Walker said. "Everyone thinks that because floor is kind of the showcase event for girls, really in the whole scheme of things, on that second day everybody that is doing the requirements is scoring the same."

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And for the three Lady Cats competing in the All-Around, Kara Baker, Caroline Steele and McKinley Nile, they all placed at or near the top of the leaderboards in all the events, earning three of the top four All-Around spots at the regional meet.

"I've been consistent so far," Baker said. "Regionals went great, exactly how I wanted it to be, so just hoping to keep it consistent for state."

Last year, Baker finished second in the All-Around category after slipping on the beam event during optional, costing her the gold by .200 points.

"Last year I was very consistent the whole way till state," Baker said "... Because in this sport you strive to be perfect, so when you're not perfect, it's a lot. It makes you a perfectionist. So, letting myself know 'okay, it's just a bad day and that we're going to have bad days' and that I'm going to have better days and keep on going and to keep on pushing."

For the Bobcats, Arott wants to see his team consistently improve through a rebuild back to championship contenders.

"I knew we would be better this year," Arrott said. "...This year it's coming together and winning district and regional while scoring higher than we did a year ago. And that's where it should be, so we're getting back."

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Logan Kypfer is one of two seniors on the boys team that Arott credited for leading the team back to prominence. He tied for second in the All-Around with 110.900 at regionals, while the other senior Tyler Duncan finished fifth with 105.200.

"Seeing how losing five or six seniors put us back and how far we grew was a really pleasing moment for us," Kypfer said. "I know especially for the younger people coming in (going to the state meet) has really boosted their confidence, because now they know what a state meet feels like."

This year the Central gymnastics team will travel to El Paso on May 3-4 where the girls team hopes to bring home its sixth-consecutive title and inch closer to L.D. Bell's record 21 total state titles.

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: High school gymnastics: Central teams looking for another title