NIWOT — Coming into its home meet Wednesday night, Niwot gymnastics had firmly asserted itself as one of the best teams in the state — if not the best.
The Cougars held six of the top 10 best team scores in the state — regardless of classification — with about three weeks left until the state meet. The two-time defending Class 4A champions seem to be on another level this year.
“We have so many individual athletes that really, really help contribute to our team score and also shine on their own,” said senior Evie Saunders, the two-time defending all-around champion. “I think that’s done so much for us. If one athlete doesn’t have the best meet, then the others can kind of take over for that and then kind of make up for it. I think that’s why it’s so important to have all these different girls on the team.”
On Wednesday, the Cougars took home another victory when Broomfield, Poudre School District and Fort Morgan came to town, racking up 180.275 points. Broomfield, in second, scored a 171.800. That was Niwot’s second-best score of the season.
But that was just a taste of the absolute dominance that the Cougars have been throwing down in the gym this season. Before the meet, Saunders boasted four of the top 15 all-around scores in Colorado, with her best topping out at 37.400. Only Rock Canyon’s (5A) Callista Larson was better on a single occasion, when she posted a 37.550.
Niwot junior Charlotte O’Neill added her own flair to the leaderboard, as she ranked No. 10 with a 36.500 following Niwot’s competition against Roosevelt last week. Saunders, for her part, said she’s been incorporating new skills this year, including a round-off, double full on floor. She wants to add more difficulty into her bars routine, too.
Junior Sienna Wood said that this season, she hasn’t been picking up new skills so much as polishing off the ones she competed with last season. She’s already seen her hard work pay off, as her scores have jumped anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 points.
She said the culture of the team is helping everyone excel, as they look to beat their own personal best scores instead of focusing on the other teams in the gym.
“We’ve talked a lot this year about finding our ‘Why,’” Wood said. “The culture is so much about doing it for our teammates and wanting to see everyone else succeed. You go and you want to do your best, and then you want the girl after you to do even better.”
That has made all the difference in the Cougars’ pursuit of another state championship, but at this point of the season, that’s the farthest thing from their minds. Head coach Marisa Purcell has had quite the balancing act with eight returning athletes and seven new ones, but the team has been excelling all the same.
“Our motto is building the foundation of a champion, and we talk about champions actually in life, what that means,” Purcell said. “It’s not necessarily winning gymnastics, but in life and how you do that. Every week, we have a different word that leads up to that — coachable, teammate, determination. I think what’s made them special is that they’ve really been able to take that and let that guide them and lead them in what they’re doing every day, and why they’re doing it.”