Page 108 - 1980

“ I went for gymnastics to improve
my body coordination for pole vault­
ing in track. I feel it helped greatly,
and I really enjoyed gymnastics. It’s
a fun sport.”
Junior Doug Lewis

Height it th« objective of freshman Larry Cahoon as he
Stretching is a part of the practices held six days a week works in the long horse vaulting event. He can score up to a
Flexibility is important in this move by freshman Kevin Gibbs. 3 4 f0r the difficulty of the vault.

Chalk one up

for experience

( f iT he team grew tremendously for "Practices included working on
I starting out with eight fresh­ individual tricks and routines that
man,” said Coach Dave Contreras each would do in a meet. The condi­
of the girls’ gymnastic team. tioning included exercising and
Out of the eight girls, six worked weightlifting,” said Coach Contr­
all-around. This included participat­ eras.
ing in the floor exercises, the bal­ First year Coach Contreras also
ance beam, the uneven parallel coached the boys’ gymnastic team.
bars, and the vault. "The boys had a tough time dur­
Two medals were won in districts. ing the year, yet they progressed at
Freshmen Karen Coppersmith and the end of the season to compete
Diane Hobza placed 4th and 5th well with other teams,” said Coach
respectively, on the balance beam. Contreras.
"This was the first time any med­ One goal for the year was accom­
als were won by the girls’ gymnastic plished by the team in their last meet
team,” said Coach Contreras. against Burke. They scored 101
Another qualifier for state was points to go above their goal of 100.
freshman Therese Conway, who Outstanding performers for the
won 7th place in the vaulting. Plac­ year were seniors Tony Schlemmer
ing again was Diane Hobza, receiv­ and Mark Quandahl, and junior
ing 7th in the floor exercise. Doug Lewis.
The girls practiced a minimum of “ I’m really proud of these individ­
two hours, six days a week, with the uals. They handled themselves well
season starting in November and throughout the whole year,” said
ending in March. Coach Contreras.