Centenary Ladies Gym Talk: Jan. 14 Edition
Hey Centenary Ladies Fans, this is your girl Xi-Pie bringing this week’s gym talk. It’s been a crazy fun week, so hold on to your hats!
Hey Centenary Ladies Fans, this is your girl Xi-Pie bringing this week's gym talk. It's been a crazy fun week, so hold on to your hats!
As our first few days of practice after Christmas break ended, we were informed we would get the opportunity to compete at LSU on Friday! This was a huge shock for the Ladies as our original plans were to have an intra-squad in the Gold Dome. However, this team loves a challenge, and we were excited to get this opportunity to start our season a week early, and to get to do it on one of the biggest stages in collegiate gymnastics – on national television being broadcast on Friday Night Heights on The SEC Network/ESPSN! WOW, what a way to start our year – except yikes – we thought we wouldn't be competing quite yet. This team is not one to shy away from a challenge, so worked super hard to prepare as much as we could in the short amount of time we had before this meet.
The Ladies held their own and really showed college gymnastics there is more to DIII gymnastics than meets the eye! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our team, and for Division III gymnastics, and we were ready to face it head on. Our main goal for this meet was to just go in there and do clean, confident, and fun routines. We wanted to represent our team with pride, but we also wanted to represent all the gymnastics schools out there who work hard every day, to show what all of our programs are made of!
Wednesday night we loaded our bus and headed south to Baton Rouge. Thursday the Ladies got an amazing opportunity to practice in the LSU gymnastics facility. The equipment was amazing, and the staff were very helpful and inviting. It was a great last day of practice before we competed, and we put out our best to set the tone for what was to come on Friday.
Friday morning, we were able to do walk through in the PMAC as we prepared to compete. It was a good feeling to get to be in the arena and see it set up before we actually had to start competing. Everyone made their way around to their events and did their mental rehearsals/visualizations for what was to come later that day. The staff at the PMAC was so welcoming and helpful, it felt great to be there.
After our walk through we jumped back on the bus, took lunch back to the hotel and spent some time doing some mental training. Since we were not back in school yet, there was not study time required, so our coaches put the time to good use. We watched a webinar the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association put on for the all gymnastics student-athletes around the country. After we completed the webinar, we had a team meeting and talked about some of the things that really resonated with us. Everyone felt like they really got a lot from the time we spent on this, and I think it showed on Friday night.
So, on Friday, the excitement on the team was amazing, and contagious. We were all in a really great head space going into the PMAC. Warm-ups was fairly smooth for our first meet; we have practiced timed warm-ups several times and things ran like clockwork. Our team did a great job of staying together, getting their jobs done, and helping each other.
We started the meet on bars, and the Ladies started the meet off super strong with a 6/6 bar line up. We had goals set for every event this meet, and we were able to hit almost every goal for bars within the first 4 people. Major shout out to freshman Chloe Armentor as she had a rough warm up, but after a pep talk, she trusted her skills and training to hit a beautiful bar routine. Also has anyone seen Taylor Ann come down from that huge full out yet? We're still trying to find her.
We then moved to vault where we saw some amazing vaults; it should be noted, this was our first time having hard landings this year. We were planning it for our intra-squad, but heck, let's just get it done at LSU on national TV! Shout outs to Kendall Sanders for a stuck 9.8 half and shout out Lani Johnson for a huge layout. Can't wait for the twist! Also, to Kendall Huff for a beautiful tuck 1/1 to anchor our vault team.
The Ladies then put on their dancing shoes to show Louisiana what they are made of. We moved on to floor and delivered powerful and super fun routines. Our goal on floor was to show off our new choreography and to hit clean routines. I can say we did that! Our team showed out with the "Lady P". We had a great floor showing, even though we had to water down some passes. Now we can't wait to put some upgraded routines out on the floor.
Centenary closed out the night with a 5/6 made line up on beam. We stayed calm and confident, which was one of our goals, and the entire line-up really worked for their beam routines. Huge shout out to freshman Carissa Martinez showing a solid clean routine alongside my sister, junior Rose Deshler with an exquisite set. The Ladies were proud of our performance, we all felt as if we did what we set out to do and finished the night 186.500, which is the highest in years for a season opener.
After the meet we even got to meet the legendary DD Breaux, as she came to congratulate us and compliment us on our great performance. Of course, she gave us some secret tips to help us as we move along in the season, but we can't tell you what they were!
We also want to say thank you to LSU and to ESPN for going above and beyond to make us feel welcome and wanted. Coach Jay and his staff went out of their way to help us in any way they could. The ESPN people were invested in making sure they highlighted our program and DIII gymnastics in the best way possible, and I think we made some fans around the country while showing everyone what a great team Centenary Gymnastics is.
This was all in despite starting a week early and continuing to face challenges. These Ladies are bound to make a name for themselves this season. Sit tight and enjoy the ride as we continue our season.
This is your girl Xi-Pie signing out
