The Olathe North Gymnastics season started on the first week of the school yearand finished on Saturday, October 26th at the State competition.

“We did really well. We placed sixth out of eight schools,” Junior Jill Klusman said, concerning the competition that Saturday.

The fact that the Olathe North Gymnastics team even qualified for State competition is a very big deal.

“This is the first year our team has made it to State since 1990,” junior Kylie Ray said.

This impressive feat reflects how well this season went. Earlier on in the season, the Olathe North Gymnastics team placed first at the Olathe South Invitational.

“We did pretty good as a team and as individuals we did really well,” Sophomore Jessica Pittenger remarked.

Doing well as a team has never meant more than it did this year because the Olathe North Gymnastics team of seven athletes was combined, in a way, with all the other Olathe high school gymnastics teams.

“In previous years our head coach used to coach Olathe Northwest, Olathe West, and Olathe East,” Pittenger continued, “Now we all have five coaches but Mallory West is the head coach.”

But what do the Olathe North gymnasts think about being united with their competitors?

“Well, I feel that it’s actually a good thing because since we’re practicing with all five Olathe schools it’s like one big team. It makes it so that you have more people to cheer on and have more people cheering you on,” Sophomore Delaney Stanley explained.

One thing that provided stress for the team, however, were injuries. Both of the junior varsity gymnasts, Rory Short and Ella Smith, sustained leg injuries.

“We were both our for a week or two at a time. [Rory] missed the first meet and some practices and I missed the last meet and some practices.” Smith said.

With a good season behind them and a new, symbolically combined team, the Olathe North Gymnastics team can give themselves a pat on the back and look forward to the next season.