February 25, 2021 at 8:16 a.m.
One last routine
Hodags' Bishop prepares to end gymnastics career at state meet
One last routine
She's there as a surprise qualifier in a surprise event, so the Hodag senior has every reason to go for broke in the final balance beam routine of her high school career.
"I'm just going out there to do my best and do one last routine for my senior year," she said.
Bishop made it to state with a career-best score of 8.0 on beam last Thursday, good enough for the fourth of five individual qualifying positions out of a D2 sectional in Rhinelander. A couple of days afterward, as she began preparation for the state meet, the reality of the situation still had not quite set in.
"Out of all things, beam I was just really surprised, I suppose," she said. "Out of all things, the probably of me going on to state was probably the highest on floor until I saw the scores, and then I was like, 'Ah, no.'"
By the time Bishop competed on floor exercise at sectionals last week she needed a score of at least 8.7 or better to have a chance of making it to state. Her best was an 8.55. She ended up with an 8.3 on in the sectional competition, but little did she know at the time the balance beam performance she turned in less than a half hour earlier would hold and get her into the state field.
Perhaps Bishop qualifying for state on beam was a surprise, but it definitely was not a fluke. Rather, it was a bonus payoff for a senior who, over the last two years blossomed into Rhinelander's top all-around performer.
"Just so much growth and maturity in how she approaches practice and working with the girls, the other girls, being a huge role model and leader for our younger girls," coach Heather Sturtevant said. "That's been very fun to watch, really watching her grow up."
Perhaps Bishop's first trip to state was a year delayed. Qualifying scores were a little higher last year, but Bishop never got the chance to see where she stacked up with the rest of the sectional field. A mishap at practice, while working on uneven bars just days before sectionals, resulted in a broken sternum for Bishop.
"It's a pretty freak thing," Sturtevant said. "She came down, over-rotated enough where she came down and folded in half where we're not supposed to fold in half."
"I was really disappointed, honestly," Bishop said. "I remember going to sectionals last year, watching and being like, 'Oh my gosh, I wish I could compete at sectionals.' But I knew that if I raised my arms over my head, it was just a lot of pain. It was really disappointing, but I was not stressed. But going into this year I was like, 'Oh my gosh,' where will I be after this injury? Will I still be able to do the same things I could (previously)?'"
Fortunately for Bishop, after healing, she was almost all the way back to her old self heading into this year. However, emotional scar tissue remained on uneven bars due to the accident. Bishop admitted to "avoiding bars like the plague" during the offseason and even during the first couple of weeks of practice.
That all changed Dec. 12, when the Hodags opened the season at home against Chequamegon.
"The first flyaway dismount was in warm-ups, at the first meet. She's like, 'Would you just stand there a minute?' I was like, OK," Sturtevant said, holding on to the last syllable with a rising inflection to underscore her uncertainty. "She's been doing it every since."
It has all resulted in a career-year for Bishop. She turned in three personal-best scores - including a 7.15 on uneven bars - at last Thursday's sectional.
On Saturday, Bishop will become Rhinelander's first state gymnastics participant since 2018, when Stephanie Kuester qualified on floor exercise and Raven Sturtevant qualified on uneven bars. Bishop was a freshman that year, but did not watch the state meet because she was studying for a test.
"I remember being really angry about it, but I passed the test," she said.
In a full-circle twist of fate, Heather Sturtevant said Bishop plans to borrow and wear the same leotard that Raven Sturtevant wore when she competed at state in 2018. It's common for gymnasts to wear something other than their team-issued leotards when qualifying for state as an individual.
When Raven Sturtevant qualified for state on bars that three years ago, she said it came as a bit of surprise. Now Bishop finds herself in the same position, and ready to compete at state with nothing to lose.
"I'm just going to go out there and do my best, I guess," she said. "I'm putting a couple of new things into my routine, but I've got a full five days of two hours of practice to work on it and solidify it."
"Really it's just letting Lilli experience the whole hoopla of going to state," Heather Sturtevant said. "It doesn't matter where she ends up placing, because you can still look back and go, 'I'm at state. I'm in this top group of the entire state.' It doesn't matter first or 25th or whatever.
"Now she gets this big experience and then off to more experiences - off to college, and off to life. From what I see, she's just going to continue to make major accomplishments throughout her life."
Bishop is set to compete in the second rotation of the evening session of tomorrow night's D2 state meet at Performance Elite Gymnastics. Her rotation will take place at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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