January in Review with Bev
Hello again friends and fans,
The start of the season has been a whirlwind but we just got back from Ames, Iowa where we had a very successful meet. It was the first meet this season that we really put it all together and hit 4 events pretty solid. We started out against Iowa and Bowling Green and had a pretty decent meet but counted a fall on beam and had some other little silly mistakes so we felt like we had room to improve. The next two meets against MSU and then Nebraska we took a step backward and counted 2 falls on beam each week. That being said I felt as though we had a lot of improvements in those meets as well.
This team has shown that it can adapt and adjust to away meet situations pretty well with different equipment etc…
We were hanging right in there with Nebraska at Nebraska until the last event and then had our misses which allowed them to take the lead. I believe that if we had hit beam it would have been anyone’s meet.
At Iowa State this weekend with BYU we started on Bars and finished on Vault. We got off to a good start on Bars but still felt we could have been a little more solid on handstands etc… Beam went GREAT!!! Yea! We hit 6 solid routines and we went over 49 for the first time this season. We are really a very strong beam team we just had to pull it all together which we finally did. Kelsey and Kylee have been rocks so far, and Jordan and Sarah are doing great also. We put in Katie Zurales and Natalie Beilstein for the first time this weekend, and they did great! Natalie had been exhibitioning for us and had been sticking routines. She really showed that I made a good decision by putting her in the line-up. Katie is just now getting back into the swing of things from having mono, so I’m glad to see her back in action and doing so well! After an exciting beam rotation, we went to floor and there we had a strong showing. We pulled Brittnee out of the line-up because she had a pretty sore ankle and we didn’t want to risk not being able to use her on vaulting. I think it turned out to be a good decision because we finished well on vault to come away with our first 196 of the season.
We still have lots of room to improve also which is nice at this time of the season to feel like we can get so much better. We haven’t done as well as we would like sticking dismounts so that will be a focal point for us going forward. That is just one area we feel like we can pick up several tenths. Practices are going really well and the team has a great attitude. They are really believing in the Mission Possible motto that we have for this year. If we believe we can achieve!!! I believe in that completely! That’s all for now. Talk to you soon!!
Go Blue,
Bev