Gymnastic Teams Stronger At Ferris, Lc

About 80 hopeful gymnasts, the biggest turnout in Ferris history, stared back at coach Bill Christianson as the first practice began last Monday.

One thing was obvious - Christianson needed assistant coaches. Quickly.

With all those little bodies flipping, flying, and vaulting through the air inside the slender confines of Ferris’ tiny gym, Christianson might just as soon have hired air-traffic controllers.

At Lewis and Clark, it was a slightly different scene. Coach Barb Richards was simply counting her blessings as 17 girls showed up for the first training session.

For a team that could barely scrape together 10 gymnasts when she began coaching six years ago, Richards is very pleased with the turnout.

Not surprisingly, Christianson and Richards had different expectations for their seasons, which begin Dec. 5.

Saxon shoot for state

“I’m really happy about having that many people,” said Christianson, who is in his second season as Ferris head coach. “I encourage everybody to come out.”

A new District 81 policy doesn’t allow cutting participants.

So to identify the less-committed would-be gymnasts, Christianson asked his three assistant coaches, Jayne McLaughlin, Diedre Whetzel, and Monica Forss, to develop a rigorous physical fitness program.

“Jayne is an aerobics instructor. She put ‘em through 30 minutes of hell. That took care of some,” Christianson said. “Diedre is a drill sergeant, so that took care of some more. Monica’s husband is a trainer for the Spokane Chiefs hockey team, so she’s got that hockey attitude.”

Gymnast numbers have dwindled to “just” 60, still 20 more than last season. Christianson has divided practices into three different sessions.

To manage the still-large numbers, varsity gymnasts donate at least one night a week to help at the junior varsity and beginner practices. In addition, four Ferris boys - Shane Gustafson, Dana Harper, Will Elmer and Pat Miller - help the team set up the myriad of bars, beams, and vaulting equipment every day before practice.

With the season just a week old, Christianson said his gymnasts are already stronger than last season, when Ferris placed 2nd in the GSL and 7th in state.

“Last year when we started, some of the girls couldn’t support themselves on the bars or do basic skills,” he said. “This year, they just have to polish those skills.

He expects junior Kacey Fredrickson, sophomore Kim George, and Andrea Evans, the only senior on the team, to be strong in the all-around events against powerful U-Hi, which won the GSL last year, and Central Valley.

A trio of freshmen, Ivy Plewman, Filicity Fredericks, and Nicky Lafferty, have also shined in early-season workouts.

Fredrickson also said this year’s team is stronger than last year.

“I worked a lot harder this summer,” she said, pointing out that most of the Ferris girls took part in the Northwest Gymnastics camp in August.

“But I know the other schools are working harder, too,” said. “They were at the same camps we were.”

Now that the state tournament has been reorganized so only one team from the GSL will qualify, it’s going to be even tougher for Ferris to repeat its success of a year ago.

“But that gives us something more to shoot for,” Fredrickson said. “If we don’t make it as a team, we want to get as many individuals there as we can.”

Lewis and Clark stronger

“In most years, the great majority of our new gymnasts have had no experience,” said Barb Richards, who has coached Tiger gymnasts for six years. “But the freshmen this year all have some sort of a gymnastic background.”

While Richards admits that a “gymnastic background” in some cases means simply that some of the kids were in gymnastics clubs as children, she said the improved athleticism of her gymnasts is already noticeable. “It puts us a step ahead at the beginning of the season,” she said.

The Tigers won only one time last year, against Shadle Park. She said that with the improved skills she thinks the girls “will be surprised at how well they do in the first meet this year.” But the main focus this season is to simply relax and have a good time, she said.

“I just try to keep the girls really comfortable,” Richards said.

LC has eight returning varsity gymnasts. Six juniors - Reagan Nail, Anne Sackville-West, Rachel Finnegan, Megan Murphy, Michelle Ransford, and Jessica Grande - and a pair of sophomores, Jennifer Katke and Catherine Bradley, all got valuable experience last season.

‘It’s a step up from last year,” said Sackville-West. “The younger gymnasts are looking a lot better.”

Her teammate Nail spent a month at Spokane Elite Gymnastics this fall to improve her skills.

“You look at other gymnasts and ask yourself ‘Why can’t I be that good?’ ” Nail said. “Well, you can be that good - you just have to work at it.”

Last Monday, Nail watched the team’s freshmen go through some of the compulsory excercises as practice began. At first glance, it looked like the same old thing as every year - a group of skinny, inexperienced girls.

Until they took to the floor.

“And then you see one of them whip off a back handspring,” Nail said. “All you need is a little fine tuning, and you’ve got a team.”