When Chesterton’s Lexi Avey arrived at the state meet for the first time as a freshman last March, it was like she’d walked into a time machine.
“It felt like I was a college gymnast,” said Avey, now a sophomore. “It’s a huge arena, all of the equipment was nice, and there were so many teams.”
Avey will make her second appearance at the state meet Saturday, when she joins Chesterton’s team in the state finals at Worthen Arena on the campus of Ball State.
But she doesn’t expect to be as awestruck this time around.
“I’m still nervous,” she said. “But I’m not as nervous because I know what it’s going to look like, what it’s going to feel like, who’s going and what type of competition we’re going to have.”
Last season, Avey and classmate Jordan Bush led the Trojans — a team dominated by underclassmen — to a fifth-place finish at the state meet with a team score of 110.475 points. They were just 0.475 points away from fourth-place Crown Point, the last team to medal.
Chesterton’s mission this season is to take some hardware home from Muncie.
“We talked about pushing through all of the mental blocks you have,” Avey said. “Because, in the end, getting the medal is worth the pain. The pain’s temporary.”
With freshman Sophie Hunzelman added to the roster, Chesterton tore through its regular-season schedule undefeated before winning the conference and sectional meets.
Avey’s developments mirrored her team’s improvements, as she became a better all-around gymnast.
“She’s matured,” Chesterton coach Dawn Matthys said. “She upped her level of difficulty and cleaned up a lot of technique. She shows a lot of inner strength, more now as a sophomore than she did as a freshman.”
After her freshman season, Avey said one event was her biggest offseason focus.
“Bars,” she said. “Because that was the only event that I didn’t compete in at state.”
She’ll do that this year as one of three all-around competitors for Chesterton, along with Bush and Hunzelman.
Chesterton enters the meet as one of the favorites in the team standings. Matthys said her team had an extra edge at practice this week after finishing as runner-up to Valparaiso at last Saturday’s regional.
“They’ve got a fire that they didn’t have going into regionals,” she said.
Smith steps up for Merrillville: Coach Diane Roberts knew Merrillville couldn’t reach the state meet without some help from her freshmen. For the second week in a row, freshman Abby Smith played a huge role, leading the Pirates with a fifth-place all-around score of 36.775 at regionals. She scored a 36.425 at sectionals.
“We keep telling them depth is what’s most important,” Roberts said. “Abby came through and had a perfect meet.”
Tough time for an illness: Matthys went five days without seeing her athletes the week of the state meet. She missed practice each day and Chesterton’s winter sports awards banquet Wednesday night, all because she didn’t want to expose her team to the illness she was dealing with all week.
By Thursday, though, Matthys said she was back in the gym and hadn’t got anyone else sick.
“I believe they were all in attendance for awards night so we should be good to go,” she said.
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
GIRLS GYMNASTICS STATE MEET
When: Saturday, opening ceremonies at 11:30 a.m. CT, competition at noon.
Where: Worthen Arena, Ball State
Teams: Bloomington South, Chesterton, Columbus East, Columbus North, Fort Wayne Carroll, Fort Wayne Dwenger, Homestead, Merrillville, Valparaiso.
Gymnasts to watch: Lexi Avey, Jordan Bush, Sophie Hunzleman, Chesterton; Abby Smith, Heather Osorio, Merrillville; Jenna Algozine, Whitney McKeon, Rachel Moneta, Valparaiso.
Outlook: Chesterton was the top-ranked team in the state all season, led by its underclassmen trio of Avey, Bush and Hunzelman. But the Trojans’ undefeated streak ended at last week’s regional, with Valparaiso taking the title. The top two team spots will likely come down to a battle between Chesterton and Valparaiso, although the Columbus schools could also play a factor.
