Time to Fly
EHS senior Hayley Fry hopes to end career with 1 final trip to the State tournament
By Michael Ashford
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Hayley Fry has big plans for her final year of competitive gymnastics.
The Emporia High senior has upped the ante, so to speak, for this, her final season in a Spartan uniform.
From installing more difficult elements in her routines to setting higher individual goals for herself, Fry doesn’t want to look back on this season and be disappointed.
“I don’t want to end my competitive career and not do well,” she said. “I’ve been doing gymnastics for 15 years, and this is my last year to compete, so I really want to do well.”
To get ready for this season, Fry spent the offseason working out at Capital Area Gymnastics Emporium in Topeka. During her time there, Fry said she spent time studying new elements — harder elements — to add to all her routines this season in hopes if raising her degree of difficulty and, consequently, increasing her scores.
She even plans to break out a new routine on the bars, but added that could take some time to unveil.
“I went and tried to find the hardest skills I could do so I could throw them into my routines and try to get my scores higher,” Fry said. “I’ve just put in harder stuff and polished up the stuff I already have.”
The goal, she said, was to return to the form she showed as a sophomore two years ago when she qualified individually for State in the All-Around competition, the only girl at EHS to do so that year. She went back last year as well, as the entire team advanced to State.
“I expect to go to State again,” she said. “I want to have my best year.”
So far this year in practice, EHS coach Barbara Clark said Fry, along with fellow senior and All-Around performer Tarra Nichols, had looked impressive.
“They worked in the offseason, so they’ve looked stronger so far,” Clark said. “I’ve noticed that they are a lot stronger and a lot healthier going into the season.”
Strong foundation
Fry and Nichols are two of 12 girls out for the EHS gymnastics team this fall, making this year’s team one of the largest the school has had in a few years.
Joining Fry and Nichols as seniors are Jamie Hollern and Jennie Loucks, who would form the foundation for the rest of the squad, Clark said.
“They’re excited for their senior year, and they want to go to State,” Clark said. “We’ve got that base of seniors that the rest of the girls can go from.”
Juniors Kayla Baker, Kelsey Downs and Jenna Peterson and sophomores Madison Reiber and Haley Risley round out the returners this year, while the squad welcomes in three freshmen: Kaitlyn Miller, Kristina McAuley and Calle Arndt.
Miller in particular could provide some depth for the squad, especially on the floor, which she considers her specialty. She also will compete on the bars and beam this season, both of which are new events for her.
“Knowing that I am a freshman, I’m not real, real pressured to do a lot, but I want to do good for me,” Miller said. “I want to do good at the new events, especially beam, because I didn’t really plan on doing beam this year. That’s kind of scary. I’m just hoping I do OK.”
Fry, however, said the focus should be more on making the season enjoyable. The rest will fall into place, she said.
“I just want to be proud of myself and have fun, because I think that’s more important than anything,” Fry said. “I’d rather remember a season where I had fun than anything else.”
Emporia High opens the gymnastics season Monday at the Hutchinson Invitational. The State meet falls on Nov. 3. Last year, EHS took ninth out of nine teams at the State meet.
“We’re not satisfied with where we were at,” Clark said. “We don’t want to come out last at State. We want to compete throughout the season and stay away from injury and stay healthy.”