NHS girls gymnastics head to regionals

The Niwot High School girls gymnastics team has been looking for a lift to propel it into the 4A regional and state championship meets. The boost came this past week as the Cougars notched their highest team score of the season, a 178.1 tally, in the final Front Range League meet of the season at Mountain Range High School.

"I think we're sitting really well. We obviously had a great League meet," Coach Marisa Purcell said. "But we started off a little rough on the beam. So, it definitely took some mental toughness to be able to pull themselves back in and decide where they wanted to go from there. The decision was on them. It was about their toughness and going against adversity and they killed it."

"That was really great to see because we've been focusing a lot on that. We've been working on things to try and develop mental toughness and we're not finished up on that yet. We've had to really keep working on that and kind of dig deep to find that strength and keep going. I think we saw some of those rewards this past week (in the League meet)."

The Cougars finished third at the League event behind host Mountain Range High School and Broomfield High School, both 5A schools.

So now it's off to the regional meet on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Arvada West, one of three regional events this week. Overland will host the first regional meet on Thursday, while Mountain Range will be the site of the other event on Friday. The Cougars will be competing against Alamosa, Arvada West, Broomfield, Denver East, Fort Morgan, Green Mountain, Heritage, Lone Star, Pomona, and Roosevelt in the combined 5A/4A regional meet.

"I think our approach at this point is to try and go out there and get a handle on the pressure and just do gymnastics," Purcell explained. "Go out there and do what you love. Just do gymnastics. Don't over think it. Don't try to do too much. Just do what you know how to do, and it will all come together. And, of course, our goal is to win regionals and be able to have the whole team together for state."

Nine 4A teams will qualify from the three regional meets to compete at the state championships on Nov. 3 and 4. The top team score in each of the three regionals will automatically qualify. The final six spots for qualification will be awarded to the next six best team scores, regardless of which regional meet the teams came from.

The top three individuals in each event from each region, who aren't included on a state qualifying team, will automatically qualify. The final nine spots for qualification will be awarded to the top nine individuals in each event, regardless of region (18 total spots).

Niwot will be partnered with Fort Morgan and Heritage in its rotation as the teams move through vault, beam, uneven bars, and close out the competition on the floor exercise.

"We try not to get too caught up in the rotation because, I mean, it's drawn out of a hat so there's nothing you can do about it," Purcell explained. "You've got to be confident on all four events and you've got to be ready to take on the first one no matter which it is. I think the girls are ready to go coming off leagues and realizing what their potential really is. That's encouraging and helps them see what they can do. They can do anything."

Junior Maeve Flentie, the Cougars' top performer throughout the season, is looking to regain 100 percent form after struggling to fully recover from an ankle injury that occurred a month ago at the Cougars' final home meet of the season on Sept. 20.

"It's been kind of a slow process for Maeve; for her to come back to full strength. But she actually had a great (League) meet. She stood up her vault (generally the weakest of her floor events) and received a 9.0 for the first time. So that was great," Purcell said.

Flentie will be joined by teammates senior Heidi Herbert, junior Claire Vardas, and sophomores Kylee Schlepp, Lilly O'Neill, and Isabella Foster as Purcell's top prospects for individual honors at regionals. The coach was particularly happy with the performance by Vardas at the league meet.

"Claire had a great meet, one of her best," Purcell offered. "You could just see the confidence in her. We really just saw her shine. She was comfortable, confident, and proud. You could see all of that in her."