Last winter, fate struck Fremd gymnast Kendra Ciancio.
The second best all-around performer in the state suffered a partially torn ligament in her left ankle.
Yes, she’s only 17. But in gymnastics years, she is . . . well, getting old.
“Anytime a girl gymnast is a senior in high school and is highly competitive, her body has gone through an unbelievable amount of wear and tear,” Naperville North coach Brad Foerch says.
“It is much more difficult for a girl that age to come back (because) the determination, the guts, the discipline needed, and the aggravation and frustration, are all heightened.”
But now, Ciancio is back. “My ankle feels pretty good,” she says. “I can do everything that I did before.”
Problems began for Ciancio, third in the all-around in state as a sophomore, in January when she was making a videotape in an effort to impress college recruiters. She was doing a double layout move on floor exercise when she landed incorrectly on her left ankle.
After wearing a cast for nine days, she was given clearance by doctors to return to competition in time for the state championship series in February, when Fremd won its fourth straight state title.
Ciancio missed two of her best events, floor exercise, in which she took second in state as a sophomore, and beam, on which she’d finished third. She competed in the uneven bars and vault, tying for seventh.
She began her latest recovery with two months of physical therapy. Ciancio periodically returned to the gym but couldn’t push herself till summer.
“I wanted to jump right into everything and get all my skills back and work on them and get new skills, ” she says. “But I had to wait. (As a result,) I learned how to pace myself. Now if something hurts, I give it time to rest.”
In October, she sealed her immediate gymnastics future when she signed a letter of intent to attend Iowa State.
“She has worked her butt off for this season,” Vikings senior MaryAnne Kelley, two-time defending state all-around champ, says of her fellow co-captain. “She deserves to do great this season.”
Ciancio showed that she is as good as ever at last weekend’s Big Purple Invitational at Downers Grove North. She finished first in the bars competition and ended up second on beam, vault and in the all-around.
“For Kendra to come back, with the way she looks, it is really very impressive,” Foerch said at Downers North.
But Fremd coach Larry Petrillo wondered just how strong Ciancio would be this year. She answered his questions in Fremd’s first meet, when she did the Olympic skill-level “full-in” move–a double back flip in the air with a full twist on the first flip–on floor exercise.
“I think Kendra is stronger now than before,” Petrillo says. “She is throwing more tricks, she is being more aggressive and she is more consistent.
“To have her back at full strength means a lot to us. That really puts us in the driver’s seat.”
