Niles West Girls Gymnastics held their first meet of the season on Dec. 3, 2024. Freshmen/sophomore, junior varsity and varsity teams competed against Evanston Township High School.
Each team competed on floor, uneven bars, vault and balance beam. According to Head Coach Adrian Batista, the teams have been working hard to prepare for the season, and their work paid off.
“It’s been kind of crazy because it’s such a short time to be ready for this meet. We’ve been focusing a lot on floor and beam because those are the ones where there’s dance, jumps and tumbling…This meet was absolutely amazing. I did not think we would do as well as we did,” Batista said. “It’s a first meet for freshmen. Many of them have never competed before, [but] they came out today and crushed it. I was just absolutely thrilled with how well [the teams] did,” Batista said.
Final scores are determined by the sum of each team’s top three competitors in each event. The freshman/sophomore team scored a 56.7, beating Evanston. Junior varsity scored 65.1 and varsity scored 111.3. Although Evanston scored higher than junior varsity and varsity, all three teams were happy with how the meet went.
“It was pretty good. Honestly, I wasn’t even caring about the scores. I was caring about the confidence and [I was] just doing it with a smile on my face. I’m really happy [with] how it came out and how all the other girls did today,” freshman Divina Yohanna said.
Their next meet will be held Dec. 10 at Maine West High School. To improve at future competitions, the gymnasts have set individual and team goals.
“Hopefully, [there will be] less mental blocks, more throwing skills and just overall, a more bonded team,” sophomore and junior varsity member Hadiyalah Bongcawil said.
Coach Jennifer Marin is proud of how the team’s first meet went and is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“They did so well. I was so proud of them. They were cheering each other on even though they were nervous. They got up there, they took a breath and they did exactly what we asked them to do. They trusted themselves, which is huge, and they showed off the skills they had. We can just keep going up from here,” Marin said. “[I want] to continue building on what we have, and growing confidence in themselves and each other, and just continuing to build our little gymnastics family,” she added.
Come cheer on the team at their next home meet on Jan. 7, 2025 against Vernon Hills High School!
