Young NHS gymnasts keep improving

The Niwot High gymnastics team may be short on experience, but it hasn't been an obstacle so far as the Cougars defeated Broomfield in a dual meet Oct. 12 by a score of 171.90 to 169.85.

"We have a really young team," Head Coach Marisa Purcell said. We have two seniors, and one of them is injured. So we have mostly freshmen and sophomores."

While Purcell was happy to win the dual meet, her focus is on Regionals, where the top three scores get averaged. She has about 10 athletes competing at the varsity level, but some of them compete at varsity for only one or two events, dropping down to the JV level for the others.

The Cougars will compete at the Front Range League meet Oct. 19, then Purcell and her long-time assistant, Maddie York, who Purcell coached several years ago at Standley Lake, and new assistant Lindsay Gibbs, a 2019 Frederick High School graduate who competed for Purcell at Niwot, will sit down to determine who will compete for the varsity at Regionals.

Two freshmen stood out for the Cougars against Broomfield. Kylee Schlepp took first place in the All Around with a score of 34.85, and continues to get better each meet. "She did really well," Purcell said. Lilly O'Neill scored a 9.10 on bars to take first place, and added two new skills to her routine. "She added a double back on her dismount, and a free hip hand half pirouette."

"They're all adding new skills," Purcell noted. "They are so good with each other, they're super helpful. We call them our snails, because they just move at their own pace. But they're always positive."

Sophomore Maeve Flentie was on the squad last season, but only competed in two events. This year she's competing in the All Around and won the floor routine with a score of 9.05. Sophomore Claire Vardas is in her first year on the team, and scored a 9.0 on the floor routine, adding a 1-½ new pass to her skills.

"Isabelle Foster is another freshman that has really developed," Purcell said. "We're really proud of all of them."