IHSAA gymnastics: Bloomington South seniors looking take team back to state

Bloomington South's gymnasts found just the right balance at last week's sectionals.

Senior all-arounders Maddie Kawanishi and Stella Eibling made sure their teammates understood the sense of urgency they felt in making their last run at the postseason. But there was also a feeling of not making too much of sectionals or trying to do too much or being afraid of not doing enough.

It all worked out better than they hoped, with a season-high 103.7 and third place to advance as a team to regional for the second year in a row.

"I hadn't been watching anyone else's scores at the meet so when it happened, I wasn't expecting that," Kawanishi said.

"I did not expect us to score that high," Eibling said. "I thought we had a good meet, but I didn't expect that."

And if the Panthers can bottle all that and pour it out at Friday's Franklin Central Regional, it means another week together to do it all over again at state.

"My first year as head coach (2017), I went to state," South coach Michelle Stroud said. "Going out my last year, going to state would be really big. It's pretty exciting for all of us. It's something they've worked for since their freshman year to see come to reality, so it will be huge for them, too."

Getting everyone together

The two seniors, plus senior Claire Lutz, juniors Tristan Farris and Alex Riggs and sophomore all-arounder Chloe Gautier formed South's sectional squad.

They got through bars, their weakest event, with the third-best score of the meet, then moved to beam, usually the Panthers' strongest, but not this year at times. So Kawanishi gave the team a pep talk to everyone, "except Chloe. She walked away," Kawanishi laughed.

Eibling took the lead role, scoring an 8.875. "It's scary to be first, but once I made it OK I thought everyone else will be OK," she said. Farris (8.275), Gautier (8.75) and Kawanishi (9.15) all stayed on and South's top three finished 4-5-8 with a meet-best 26.775 and Farris' score was by far the best for any team's fourth score.

"Everyone was most nervous for beam," Eibling said. "We had been working on that all week because that's kind of been our struggle all season. And for us to hit four for four was kind of crazy."

That carried over to the rest of the meet and a 2.1-point margin over fourth place Franklin Central.

Eibling battles back

The fact Eibling is still competing is a strong statement in itself as to how badly South wants to take its team to state. She's broken her back, twice, a recurring injury she's worked past. She also dealt with a sprained ankle.

Despite all that, she wanted back on the mats as soon as possible.

"Because it's our last year," she said. "You can push through only a few more meets."

It all kept her out of action for the first four meets but when she safely returned, it was a full go at South's Invitational.

"The first one I was fully back was a huge meet," Eibling said. "Which was good because not all the eyes on you. It was a good opportunity to slowly get back into it. I love competing so I wanted to be back as soon as I could.

"I feel like now, me and the team, we're peaking at the right time."

Aiming for Muncie

Kawanishi has been there before, performing floor at state last year. Senior teammate Mia Langley made it on beam. But that's not the same as the whole team making it.

"It's a little scary going alone," Kawanishi said. "It was different. It's the last meet for the season so it feels so different. You're at state!"

Coming back, Kawanishi is making sure she's performing stronger in all her events and strengthening her team's chances of joining her there.

"I feel that this year, it's my last year, I barely made it there in sixth," Kawanishi said. "But this year, been like fourth and fifth, not just scraping by.

"I feel like last year, I was kind of conserving it. It was my junior year so I still had a year left. But this year, I have to put everything into it, there's no other time to do it. That's kind of been my attitude this year, Do everything you can."

New Palestine knocked the Panthers to fourth last year at regional and South is ready to return the favor. The Dragons won their sectional but didn't break 101. Stroud knows they are capable but also knows what her team is capable of as well.

More: IHSAA boys hoops: 'Defense is what won the game' South shuts down Greenwood in sectional

"We have that opportunity," Stroud said. "But we're not counting anyone out. New Pal got us last year. We've talked and especially with these two, they're really good that reminding the other girls to go in and when they leave the meet, no matter what their places or scores are, that we did the best we could.

"That's what we did Friday and that's all you can ask for. You have to leave the scene with your head held high because you couldn't have done any better than you did."

Going into regional, the plan is to treat it the same way they did the sectional. "We didn't even treat sectionals like it was a giant thing," Kawanishi said. "We were like it was just another meet."

With a big team goal in mind, there's plenty of motivation to push through each event.

"It means more for someone else than it does for yourself," Kawanishi said.

"Stella and Maddie told them, 'you guys are helping us continue our season, which means a lot to us,'" Stroud said, "And it means a lot to us and we want to keep going as long as we can because we're having so much fun.'"

Road to state goes through regional

Just nine teams will make the trip to the state finals in Muncie and South intends to be one of them.

"We try to convey that we're doing it for each other," Eibling said. "It's not to get one of us to state, it's to get all of us to state, because it's so much fun to go as a team.

"It's definitely easier to do it as a group. (Sectional) was all about trying to do the best we could and not leave anything questionable. So you don't get to the end of the meet and say, 'Oh, I wish I had done that.' Just leave it all out there."

Six teams and several individuals will compete at Franklin Central when action starts at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The other two regionals at Valparaiso and Huntington North will take place on Saturday. Tickets are $10.

Qualifying teams include Bloomington North, Columbus North, Bloomington South, New Palestine, Connersville and New Castle. The Cougars had a 106.4 last year and are eyeing a third straight trip to state, which would be a first in school history.

The top three teams and the top six finishers, including all ties, in the vault, bars, beam, floor and all-around advance to the Franklin Central Regional. Also advancing will be any other gymnasts who score at least a 9.45 on vault, 9.2 on bars, 9.225 on beam, 9.325 on floor or 37.1 in all-around.

New Palestine and Connersville went 1-2 at their sectional, but neither team broke 101 and New Castle had a 96, leaving the top three teams from the FC sectional as the favorites to advance.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South senior gymnasts know team effort will lead to state