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lockportlegend.com Sports
the Lockport Legend | April 26, 2018 | 43
LTHS grad a part of national championship gymnastics team
Jacquelyn Schlabach
Assistant Editor
Sixteen women on the University
of Wisconsin-Whitewater
gymnastics team earned the title
of 2018 NCGA National Champions
after competing in the National
Collegiate Gymnastics Association
Team Championship on March 23.
Among those 16 women is Homer
Glen resident and Lockport Township
High School graduate, Vanessa
Olinger.
The Warhawks have claimed
two consecutive championship titles,
and five total in the last seven
years. Olinger, a freshman, is now
a part of school history.
“When we heard we won, my
head was just full of excitement,”
she said. “All the hard work and
all the days at practice, the blood
and the tears and our bodies being
tired, it all paid off at the end. Just
to think we did it, back to back we
did it.”
There were six teams; the Top 3
from the Midwest and Top 3 from
the East, competing at nationals
March 23 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Warhawks have gone
to nationals every year since 2007.
“It’s not about me, it’s about the
girls, because I want them to be
able to get the most out of their
gymnastics career while they’re
here at Whitewater,” said Jennifer
Regan, the gymnastics coach at
UW-Whitewater.
Although Olinger was an alternate
at nationals and didn’t compete,
throughout the season she
has competed for the team on the
balance beam. At practices however,
she has been training for all
four events: floor exercise, vault,
uneven bars and of course, the balance
beam. The season began in
January, but the team started practicing
in September.
“I love having her on our team,”
Regan said. “She’s the type of person
that can just set the team at
ease, she likes to joke, she likes to
joke around. She keeps the atmosphere
very light, which is really
nice. But she is a huge supporter
of her teammates. She’s always
cheering, always motivating them,
constantly pushing them to get better
at every practice.”
Olinger has done gymnastics
since she was 4 years old, and had
a passion for the sport ever since.
As she got older, she competed
with a couple club teams including
BIG Gymnastics in Burr Ridge,
and eventually was a part of the
IGI Gymnastics club team in Westmont
all throughout high school.
“When I was a little kid, my
mom said that I was bouncing off
the walls like crazy so she put me
in gymnastics and ever since she
put me in I had a passion and loved
it,” Olinger said.
She said her favorite events to
compete in are the balance beam
and floor, because the floor event
brings out her bubbly and outgoing
personality, while she excels on the
balance beam.
“I just think that it’s always been
the sport for me,” Olinger said.
It’s been her dream ever since
she was little to be on a college
gymnastics team, and she’s worked
her hardest to get to where she is
now. When Olinger was a junior
at LTHS, Regan watched her compete
at the Chicago Style meet,
hosted by IGI, where more than
1,000 athletes participate every
year. Not only did her skills grab
Regan’s attention, her personality
did, as well.
“I think with Vanessa, it’s her
personality,” Regan said. “She’s a
go-getter, she’s a fighter, and we always
come down to see the Chicago
Style meet and I just remember
seeing an individual working really
hard and giving it 110 percent.”
Olinger and her dad went to
Whitewater for a visit last February,
and it was there that she committed
to attend the university and
compete on the gymnastics team.
“I came to the campus and I took
a tour and I really liked it,” Olinger
said. “I met some of the girls, I
looked at the gymnastics facility
and I heard great, great things from
this school, and I don’t know, I felt
like this was my school to be at.”
Regan said it was during that visit
that she saw how much Olinger
fit in with the team, the staff, and
that it was natural for her to be a
part of the program.
“They’re definitely my sisters,
I’ll tell you that,” Olinger said.
“This season, there were some
struggles at the beginning with
some of the teammates, but we all
came together, we went on team
bonding, and I think being at practice
everyday with each other and
just fighting for one another, always
cheering for each other. It’s
a bond you can never break, ever.”
Regan has seen a lot of improvements
from Olinger since she was
in high school, and said she is expecting
big things from her in the
future.
“I really do feel like she’s going
Vanessa Olinger competes on the balance beam Feb. 9 during the Harley
Davidson Invitational at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. Steve
Rhodes
to be able to help fill in some of
those shoes of those seniors that are
going to graduate for us this year,”
Regan said. “I think she’s learned a
lot, but she’s come a long way.”
If Olinger continues to make the
type of progress she’s made in her
first year at Whitewater, Regan
believes she has the capability of
contending for a spot in the lineup
on uneven bars, balance beam and
floor exercise in the future.
“[This team is] a group of individuals
that when they put their
mind to something, they’re unstoppable,
and they really came together
as a group this year, and focused
on just the team, being a team, being
a family, and supporting one
another at every meet,” Regan said.
Bowling
From Page 45
team led by 104 pins.
Meanwhile, the Homer
boys team, consisting of
seventh-graders Jason Laba
and Nate Arient, as well as
eighth-graders Gavin Gucwa
and Kyle Beckley, also
bowled extremely well the
first day and were in first
place after Games 2 and 3.
That night, the Mustangs
had an entire evening
to think about what they
needed to do the next day on
April 14 to accomplish their
goals, Dole said.
“The teams were bowling
with different pressure
on them [on Day 2], and it
showed,” he added. “The
teams bowled three games
in the morning session, and
it started off very sluggish.
The teams were not striking
as much as the previous day
and also missing spares that
normally they would convert.
The boys moved down
to fourth place, and the girls
team stayed in first but only
had a 40-pin lead going into
the lunch break.”
After lunch, both teams
bowled much better.
“The boys were able to
close the gap on third but
ended up in fourth place —
the best finish in program
history at the state tournament,”
Dole said.
As for the girls, they finished
strongly to secure the
state title.
“The girls team came together
and rallied to increase
their lead,” Dole said. “By
the end of Game 9, their
lead was 144 pins. With only
one game remaining, they
bowled against the secondplace
team. All four girls had
an amazing 10th frame and
beat the second-place team
671-666. When all 10 games
were added up, they won by
149 pins.”
In addition to the top finish
for the girls and fourthplace
finish for the boys at
state, the teams had four
medalists based on their individual
scores. Jason Laba
finished 10th overall for the
boys, while Paige Matiasek
finished seventh, Emma
Punter placed eighth and
Cassie Kontos got 15th for
the girls.
For more information and
a complete rundown of the
IESA State Bowling Tournament,
visit the IESA website
at www.iesa.org/activities/
bo.