Bears gymnasts host first meet Thursday

Kim Brunelle has her family trained.

The longtime Central Valley gymnastics coach relied on her family for help and support through the long winter season – helping with home meets and keeping the coach sane.

So far this year, that training has been taxed.

“It’s all the football playoffs,” Brunelle laughed.

Brunelle’s oldest son, Ross, is a freshman linebacker at the University of Montana, which plays host to New Hampshire today in the NCAA Division I-AA college football playoffs in Helena. Her youngest son, Brady, was an integral part of East Valley High School’s run to the Class 3A quarterfinals.

“At first, we weren’t sure we were going to travel to see Montana’s games, but they keep getting home games,” Brunelle said. “So, between the East Valley games and the Montana games, we’ve been running around a lot and focused on football.

“But at least I have them all trained. They still ask, ‘So, Mom, when is your first gymnastics meet.’ “

For the record, that first meet is Thursday at Central Valley, when the Bears host Lewis and Clark, Lakeside and Rogers.

In gymnastics, you can count on two things. First, that Central Valley will begin greener than the grass on the football field. And second, the Bears will be in the thick of things at the district meet.

This year is no exception.

“We’ve gone beyond starting from scratch,” Brunelle said. “But I’m hoping we’ll be there at the end again. That’s my goal.”

Central Valley starts with four returning gymnasts: Maria Alderman, Melissa Hussey, Mackenzie Lawrence and Maya Morgan. Freshman Courtney Sexton enters the program with previous club gymnastics experience.

After that, the Bears are starting over.

“My top is back, but I don’t have a middle,” Brunelle said. “I go from top to bottom. This is the greenest group I’ve had in about 15 years. They’re all kids who have never done gymnastics before. It’s going to be slow going. We don’t have a lot of depth.”

Central Valley High is a gymnastics oasis.

The middle school gymnastics program, which Brunelle used to coach, no longer exists because of budget cuts. The club gymnastics program in the Spokane Valley does not allow its athletes to turn out for high school teams.

The good news is that the Bears’ returning gymnasts are all all-around athletes. The flip side of that coin, however, is that they all have athletic interests outside gymnastics.

“Because they’re athletes and not just gymnasts, they’ve been doing everything else but gymnastics over the summer,” Brunelle said. “As opposed to schools where they have specific gymnasts who can work yearround, I do not. Some schools have kids come in with routines ready to go on day one. Our kids come in and it’s, ‘What do you think my music will be?’ and ‘What do you think my vault will be?’ We’re really behind the eight ball when it comes to putting routines together.

“We choreograph all of our own routines, and a lot of schools send kids out to have their routines choreographed. It’s a philosophical thing with me. I don’t believe a high school kid should have to pay to be choreographed. That’s what we’re paid for.”

Brunelle is optimistic.

“If we can say healthy and if my top kids can continue to improve the way that they are now, we’ll be right there,” she said. “But if we have injuries or if we have competitive mistakes, we might be hurting.

“It’s all new, and five weeks later we have a meet. We’re going to start slow. We’ll be OK at the end if we can stay healthy.”

University

The most important set of returnees in the Titans gymnastics program are the two head coaches – the first time the school has returned the coaching staff in four seasons.

Tracy Duncan and Karen Renner, two of the state’s top gymnastics judges, took over the program last year and have been working year-round to prepare for their sophomore season.

The Titans finished last season with seven all-around gymnasts and all return – all ahead of where they left off.

“We worked out all summer – June and July,” Duncan said. “I quit work so I could work with them five days a week. All spring, we worked out at a gymnastics club in Coeur d’Alene with some fabulous coaches over there.

“Bottom line: We’re ahead of where we were when we left off last year.”

Junior Kayla McGahey was the regional champion on the uneven bars a year ago. Seniors Mirinda Collins and Katy House return, as do juniors Brittany Mueller, Janelle Hoffmeister, Katie Hawkins and Brenda Lampert.

Freshmen Tatiana Garcia and Taylor Vold both are experienced gymnasts who will likely compete all-around.

The Titans have doubled their turnout over a year ago and Duncan is hard at work to bring some school attention to the program.

“I’m working with Kim over at Central Valley on our head-to-head meet with them in January,” she said. “We want to see of we can kind of make it an event like the Stinky Sneaker or the Battle of the Bone. We have some ideas and we’re going to see where that can go.”