March 2, 2018 at 11:35 a.m.
Finishing in style
Gymnasts Kuester, Sturtevant seek to end season on high note at state
Finishing in style
"Even if I'm in the high 7s, I'm going to be proud of myself because I know they are really hard judges," said Kuester, who qualified in the floor exercise with a score of 8.8 in a Division 2 sectional Feb. 22 in Antigo. "I know there are teams there that have a lot higher skills than I do. They have a twist in their routine, most of them, so they get 0.2 (points) higher than me as a starting value. I'm just going to go for score instead of placement."
Sturtevant has the same attitude. She remains surprised that she qualified on uneven bars, which she readily admits is not her strongest event.
"I really just want to pull off a good routine," she said. "It's only my junior year. I've seen the other girls' routines. They have giants and such, which I'm not getting until next year. I'm just going, looking to have a nice, clean routine and then hoping I can carry the skills I've learned into next year and maybe shoot for a (podium finish)."
The numbers bear out the Hodag gymnasts' relatively low expectations. Kuester's 8.8 on the floor is the 21st-best score of the 25 who qualified in the event, while Sturtevant's 8.05 on the uneven bars is tied for the lowest qualifying score in the 26-gymnast field.
Because of that, Hodag co-coach Heather Sturtevant says the objective today is about personal growth and improvement.
"We're not looking (to) podium," she said. "That would just be amazing, but (realistically) can we go down there - because this is going to be the toughest judging all season - and up a score, get an extra bonus that we haven't been getting during the season, that's what we want to do."
To that end, both gymnasts said they've been working on perfecting their routines this week at practice, rather than throwing in a series of new moves to wow the judges. Kuester said she may tweak her routine slightly based on feedback from the judges following her sectional routine. She can afford to take an additional risk or two, knowing that she will end her gymnastics career with one final routine on the state's biggest stage.
"Going to state, I feel like I'm just going to leave it all out there. I've got nothing to lose," she said.
Raven Sturtevant said she'll be watching the competition as much as focusing on her own routine. As a junior, she said what she sees today can be used as inspiration on what to work on prior to the start of next season.
"Whenever we go to bigger meets I always try to look and find bigger skills that I can take off (of other routines) and learn," she said. "Usually they have a bunch of unique ones you don't see very often."
A number of Kuester and Sturtevant's teammates will be in the stands today both cheering on the qualifiers and soaking in the experience of the state meet.
"They're going to see some really high level teams competing and then you're looking at the top 25 percent of the girls in D1 and D2 in the state," Heather Sturtevant said.
The meet gets underway at 11 a.m. in Wisconsin Rapids, though both Kuester and Sturtevant will have to wait a while to compete. Kuester will compete in the second rotation of the day on floor while Sturtevant is in the final rotation on uneven bars.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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