What's happening in Greater Columbus high school gymnastics? Here are 5 storylines
With the regular season winding down, central Ohio gymnasts can start fine-tuning their routines for their championship meets.
The OCC meets will be held Feb. 10 at Olentangy Berlin, followed by the district meet Feb. 24 at Worthington Kilbourne and the state meet March 1 and 2 at Hilliard Bradley.
The top two teams at district advance to the state team competition March 1, and the top eight individuals in each event and the all-around qualify for the state individual meet March 2.
Here are five gymnastics storylines so far this season:
1. Longtime central Ohio coach continues busy schedule
For veteran coach Misty Lloyd-Matthews, the winter remains a busy time. She wouldn’t want it any other way.
Lloyd-Matthews is the coach at Big Walnut, DeSales and Olentangy and an assistant under coach Heather Besselman at Buckeye Valley and Delaware Hayes. She also owns the Central Ohio Gymnastics Center in Delaware.
“I love the challenge,” she said. “Some years are easier than others. Each group is different. I like to try to build a group and see how far we can go with it. That’s the main thing.”
DeSales has returned to competition after not fielding a team since the 2019-20 season. Lloyd-Matthews said there was a lack of interest during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Stallions have eight gymnasts this season, led by seniors Alex Fickell and Ashlyn Davis. Fickell is the niece of Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell, a DeSales graduate who played and coached at Ohio State.
Lloyd-Matthews believes Olentangy has an opportunity to qualify for state after finishing fourth at district (139.55) last season behind Berlin (148.85), Dublin Jerome (140.8) and Olentangy Liberty (140.05).
“There’s so many good girls on the Olentangy team,” Lloyd-Matthews said. “That’s why the team is so strong. Their depth is unbelievable.”
Big Walnut features Kylie Clark, Zelia Geisler, Karsyn Klaus, Kenzie Kline and Sydney LaVar.
2. Olentangy Berlin coach excited about team’s depth
Berlin coach Jen Hedrick believes her team’s depth will again play a key role in its quest for its first state title.
Last season, the Bears finished second (148.05) behind Brecksville-Broadview Heights (148.825), which won its 20th consecutive state title and 23rd overall.
“Eleven out of the 22 girls on my team have had top-four scores in each event and 14 of my 22 girls have had a top-six score,” Hedrick said. “You don’t see that very often. Usually, your top four girls are your top four girls. That’s huge. We know we have the depth and the skills to put up a good lineup no matter who’s ready and who’ s not.”
Seniors Izzy Borgstrom, Kylie Hedrick, Danielle Heilman, Cassie Perdue and Lily Simeone boost a squad that also features senior Alex Downing, junior Tia Estrada and sophomore Tayten Swain. Swain was second in the all-around last season at state (38.275), while Downing and Estrada tied for 16th (36.425).
The Bears scored a season-high 145.15 in winning the Hilliard Invitational on Dec. 16 at Davidson.
“I’m happy with the progress,” Jen Hedrick said. “I don’t believe that we’ve peaked yet, which is really what you want. You want to peak at the end of the season. I’m excited to see what the girls are capable of when we do peak.”
3. Worthington Kilbourne coach takes pride in program’s generosity
Kilbourne hosted its annual Beauty and the Beast event Thursday in conjunction with the Wolves’ wrestling match against Big Walnut.
Proceeds from the event benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
“We like having the wrestling going on also,” coach Cindy Fushimi said. “There’s a lot of energy in the gym. That’s fun. Our team always does philanthropy projects. This year they chose the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We let the seniors pick which charity they want to do.”
Kilbourne finished second (129.05) in the quad meet behind Lancaster (130.5) and ahead of Big Walnut (124.7) and Dresden Tri-Valley (117.35).
Key gymnasts for Kilbourne have been seniors Emma Chambers, Marissa Dolciato and Ava Gifford, junior Izzie Kinderknecht and sophomores Maggie Dunn and Delainey Moghannam.
“We’ve been making steady progress,” Fushimi said. “It’s been a good upper trend. Our team scores have been up and down, but we’re heading in the right direction. We’re trying to focus on being consistent.”
The wrestling team lost 48-25 to Big Walnut in an OCC-Capital match.
4. Hilliard coach pleased with progress of Bradley, Darby, Davidson
Like Lloyd-Matthews, Hilliard coach Carol Eskay enjoys the challenge of guiding multiple programs. Eskay leads Bradley, Darby and Davidson.
“Any kind of coaching is challenging,” Eskay said. “We have a good program in place where I have really strong assistant coaches and we’ve built in a lot of structure in our program. We try to have a mix where we do things all together. We practice together and we also do things just with their teams. At this point, it’s all that I know.”
Eskay said Darby has the most depth, with Rachel Bayer, Abby Killilea, Ashley Cornathan, Alyssa Delgado-Heaberlin and Katlyn Delgado-Heaberlin leading the way. Killilea, a senior, was 25th in the all-around (35.4) at state last year.
Bradley features Lilly Gibbs and Lauren Schuler, and Davidson is led by Lauren Keller and Rachel Mullett. Gibbs, a senior, was 36th in the all-around (32.1) at state last season.
“We’re at a good point of the season not having peaked too early,” Eskay said. “We have some things to work on as far as consistency, especially on staying on beam, but overall, we’re looking really good.”
5. Lancaster continues to make strides
In its fourth season, Lancaster’s program continues to grow stronger under coach Jen Snider.
“We’re still a club sport with our school,” she said. “We’re having a real good season. Our kids are incredibly talented. Four years ago, it was more about us being able to start a program for our girls to be able to represent our high school in their sport.”
The Golden Gales are led by sophomore Lexie Lape and seniors Ava Stalter and Sydne Wood. There are 13 gymnasts on the team.
“We have a lot of girls that can compete all-around and it really isn’t just one person,” Snider said. “Our team is deep enough that we end up with quite a few that can put up a score for the team if needed.”
Lancaster finished 13th at district (125.55) last year, but Snider expects the Gales to climb the standings this season.
Snider also coaches Logan, which trains with Lancaster at the YMCA of Lancaster and Fairfield County.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Here are 5 storylines in central Ohio high school gymnastics
