Sarah Moraw battles back from concussion to win national title on vault
Sarah Moraw wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to compete at all this season, let alone at nationals where she was the defending all-around champion.
The Holland gymnast from Champion Gymnastics had a nasty fall earlier in the season that resulted in a concussion with symptoms that lasted eight months.
She recovered in time to head to regionals, qualify for USA Gymnastics nationals, and finish her club career in dramatic fashion, claiming the Level 10 national championship in the vault.
“It definitely was amazing to go out with a bang, especially with the preseason I had,” Moraw said.”I wasn’t able to practice for about eight months because of concussion symptoms. It was really only my third full meet. Being able to reach that ending was really incredible.”
Moraw, who is headed to Minnesota on a gymnastics scholarship, sustained the head injury during training.
“I was doing a drill into the pit an did a one-and-a-half and hit my head in the bottom of the pit (under the foam) which is basically cement. I was doing a double and told to go back to one flip to fix position issues and I got lost and went to far,” she said.
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Knowing the pain and affects was one thing. But not knowing how to help relieve that pain is what kept her sidelined.
“It was a long road of recovery. I did a lot of PT and OT for a few months. Our team doctor at Minnesota recommended a behavioral optometrist to help with sight and dizziness and it ended up working,” Moraw said.
Just in time for nationals.
Moraw has been a national champion in the past, but this was different. In addition to the injury, she was also trying to do tougher routines as she prepares for Big Ten gymnastics.
That all combined into one quick but stellar vault to claim a championship with a score of 9.875.
“I was upgrading my vault for nationals to a one-and-a-half. I was excited and anxious to perform it,” she said. “It has a higher degree of difficulty so it has a wow factor. I was up first and to have that score stick through the meet was amazing. It was one of the best vaults I have ever done.
“That allowed me to focus on the rest of the events.”
Moraw did well in those events. She finished third on the balance beam (9.55), eighth in the floor exercise (9.675) and combined with her uneven bars (9.475) she took third in the all-around with a score of 38.575.
“An amazing finish to an amazing career,” Champion Gymnastics coach Tami Schaafsma posted on social media. “She went out with a bang. Came away with a national vault championship and made the Dev National Team for the second year in a row.”
Moraw said her events didn’t go perfectly but she was able to add new dimensions to them.
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“Bars was decent. I did a new dismount and that was exciting. It wasn’t my best routine but I made the dismount. Beam was solid and floor was probably the best routine I have ever done, so to end on that was great,” Moraw said.
In addition to her coaches, teammates and family watching was a glimpse of the future with Minnesota coaches and future teammates on hand.
“That was definitely fun, Moraw said. “It was a great closing note to use that momentum to that next step of college gymnastics.”
— Contact Sports Editor Dan D'Addona at Dan.D'Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Champion Gymastics' Sarah Moraw battles back from concussion to win national title on vault
