It was only a matter of time before coaching veteran Brad Loan would take a Roach Gymnastics team to nationals – less than a year.
The Sumner-based team qualified six girls who will compete at either the Level 10 Nationals in Dallas May 7-9 or the Level 9 Western Nationals in Iowa April 30-May 2.
“This has been a rewarding year,” said Loan, who joined the Roach program after 36 years as owner of Puget Sound Gymnastics in Puyallup. “They’d been struggling to get it together, and the got it together at state and regionals.”
The team started with eight at the state meet March 19 and 21 at Seattle Pacific University. They lost Kasey Johnson there despite her highest all-around score and a seventh-place finish on the beam.
At the regional meet April 9-11, team members turned in some of their best performances of the season against athletes from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, Idaho and Hawaii.
Kaila Kilwein of Maple Valley finished third in the vault, bars and beam and fourth in the all-around in her Level 10 senior division. Joining her as Level 10 national qualifiers were Julie Jennings of Puyallup and Baylee Hamilton from Mount Rainier High.
At Level 9, Lake Tapps’ Rachel Heckroth, a Sumner High sophomore, won the floor exercise and finished second in all-around in the Senior 5 level. In Senior 1, teammate Morgan Griffin also won the floor exercise. Both have been working at the sport since they were toddlers. Also making the trip will be Ashley Pernell, whose top finishes were third in the vault and bars.
Lake Tapps’ Ali Rodseth missed making the trip by fractions. She finished second at state and regionals in the vault and was fourth in the floor and turned in her second-best all-around performance.
“We made two mistatkes out of 28 routines, maybe three, that’s spectacular in our sport,” Loan said of the team’s performance. He said they are peaking at the right time. He said the next couple weeks of practice will be intense and taper off as nationals approach to bring back the same magic. The training helps the girls’ physically peak at the same time their adrenaline from the competition level is surging.
“They’re excited about the power they have,” he said.
Washington state club gymnastics has grown by leaps and bounds.
“We were the only club in the area for 25 years,” Loan said of the program he started in Puyallup. “Then, in the 1970s and 1980s, there were probably 25 clubs in the state. They’re are probably 60 now.”
Although the Lake Tapps resident sold his business, he didn’t want to walk away from the sport. He found Roach Gymnastics a good fit and owner Melanie Roach said bringing Loan on board allowed her to add a higher level competitive program. One of his national gymnasts, Kelsey Messner, an Enumclaw High student who’s been injured, is serving as an assistant. This is the first year she has not competed.
“I went back to my passion,” Loan said. “This is why I did it in 1977, 1976, becasue I enjoy it.”
“Our team doubled in size from 23 to 56,” Roach said.
Many of the team members followed Loan to Sumner.
“He’s awesome,” said Kilwein, who, along with Heckroth, are expected to do well at nationals.
With four team members who have made the trip to nationals before, the girls are hoping to earn a spot in the Top 20. They’ve scheduled out-of-state meets throughout the season, so they’ve seen some of the competition, but it’s more than that, Loan said.
“It’s an arena for college recruiting,” he said, which is especially important to some like Kilwein who is looking at post-graduation options that include the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University and Cal-State Fullerton.
