NHS gymnastics starts the season meeting all expectations

High school coaches know that the first event of any new season comes brimming with high expectations, high anxiety, and heightened nerves. How all that manifests for young athletes in the spotlight is part of the unknown thrill of opening night.

“The first meet usually goes one of two ways,” Niwot High School gymnastics Coach Marisa Purcell explained. “When they come out, they have super high energy and they’re even more excited when you’re at home. So, either all that adrenaline is good and you go out and get a really high score or it’s like you’re freaked and all that, and then you get a really low score. So, for us, this was a really good starting point.”

Purcell’s gymnasts opened their season last week with a home meet against league rivals Fort Morgan High School and Mountain Range High School. The Cougars were able to channel all the positive energy of opening night to score 171 points, right behind 5A Mountain Range (180.2). Fort Morgan finished the meet with 96.9 points. The Niwot team’s total was right in line with its coach’s expectations for their first outing.

“This was one of the better first weeks that we’ve had compared with some in the past because we weren’t on a super high or a super low,” Purcell said. “We were kind of right where we wanted to be for starting out. It was really exciting to see.”

The two Cougars Purcell looked to for team leadership prior to the start of the season, senior Heidi Herbert, and junior Maeve Flentie, stepped right into leadership roles to shine in their first competitions of the season.

Flentie, the eighth-place finisher in the all-around competition a year ago at the 4A state meet, finished her first meet with a solid fourth-place finish in Wednesday night’s all-around. She placed third on the uneven bars (8.75), fourth on the beam (9.10) and fourth on the floor exercise (9.25).

“Mauve had a great meet,” Purcell beamed.

For Herbert, it was a triumphant return to competition after struggling with injuries for the past two seasons. The senior shined on the vault scoring a 9.2 to finish second in that individual event. Herbert ended the night in fifth place in the overall standings.

“I think it says a lot for the fact that she was able to do that after not being able to make the varsity because of being injured on and off in the past, and then coming out like that in her first meet,” Purcell said. “She had a rough floor (exercise), but she did that vault for the first time and got a 9.2. Then, finishing fifth overall was really exciting.”

The Cougars, who are ranked second in 4A preseason polls, also received nice all-around performances from sophomore Izzy Foster (6th) and junior Claire Vardis (7th).

“I think they all did great,” the Niwot coach said. “Just getting to the first meet is tough. There's always so much anticipation coming into the season and you’re ready to go full force, but then there are three weeks of practice, and it feels like just waiting and waiting and waiting. So finally having that meet and for them all coming together, I was really happy. Compared to years past, this was definitely one of the better first meets as a group.”

The Niwot coach was without senior Lilly O’Neill, who was scheduled to compete in the all-around competition but missed the meet due to a hamstring pull.

“We’re hoping it won’t be more than a week or two (that she is out),” Purcell said. “We’ll try and bring her in one event at a time and see how it goes. I hope her return exceeds my expectations, but we’d rather have it [happen] now (early in the season) rather than later.”