If there is one word coach Lenny Lewis would use to describe the 2016-17 season for his Mercer Island gymnastics team, it would likely be “progressive.”
“The story of the season has been young gymnasts with a lot of potential, but we haven’t really hit our potential yet,” Lewis said. “They’ve improved about two points per meet. The routines are getting better and I’m liking what I see. I’m thinking by the end of the season at KingCo [championships], we’ll be at our best. They’ve really been improving. I see a lot of potential, but I just gotta be patient.”
Mercer Island is a young team, with much of its roster of 60 comprised of sophomore athletes.
Through the team’s first five meets, the Islanders have come away with one victory, though two of their conference dual meets were separated by a mere seven points or less. A week after the Islanders’ first victory against Redmond, Mercer Island had its strongest meet of the season, tallying a team-best score of 143 against the undefeated Lake Washington Kangs on Jan. 12.
Senior captain Madeline Gile, who competes in the floor and beam events, said one of the team’s goals this season is to keep improving with each meet.
“We get a lot of people who haven’t done gymnastics before. It’s really fun to see them picking things up really quickly,” Gile said. “I definitely think this is a sport where people can make a lot of progress.”
Senior captain Emily Greaves, who competes on beam and bars, said a point of focus for the Islanders is to continue cleaning up their routines before the end of the season.
“At our first meet, we had falls on beam from almost everybody. As the season has progressed, we’ve seen a lot less falls per meet,” Greaves said. “We’ve definitely improved on bars over the season. We have a lot less beginner routines and a lot more novice and intermediate.”
As the postseason draws near, Lewis said he hopes to see his gymnasts continue to improve on their hitting and finishing with their routines. Should they be able to follow through, he believes it will pay off in tournament competition.
“With the talent out there, I’m hoping that I can get five of our starting gymnasts to make it to state, even if it’s on one event as a whole,” Lewis said. “I think we have enough talent in the group of girls. There’s so much talent, but they’ve got to hit.”
Come the KingCo championships in February, the Mercer Island captains said a good goal for their team would be to qualify individuals for each event.
“If we could advance two to three [people] on each event, that would be really great,” Greaves said. “I think we’ll definitely have some people at districts.”
For Lewis, the goal is to hang on to the young athletes he has now and see how far they can develop.
“I am having so much fun working with this team this year,” Lewis said. “They’re hungry, hungry to learn new skills and new routines, it’s great. Any little thing you have to teach them, their ears are wide open and they feed into and go for it. You couldn’t ask for more, especially when you see improvements.”
