SHS GYMNASTICS: Veterans to lead group of fresh faces

Published 2:11 pm Monday, November 30, 2009

With a small band of battle-tested veterans and big group of raw rookies, coach Kimmie Marton is entering her eighth season at the helm of the Sumner High gymnastics program.

Marton has seen good times and bad through the years, and isn’t quite sure how to judge this season’s crop.

“We feel OK about the team, but with so many new faces, we’ll just have to wait and see,” she said.

The Spartans feature four returning letter winners, headed by four-year veteran Lisbet Fernandez. Others back from last year’s squad are junior Rachel O’Donnell and sophomores Kayla O’Daniel and Aja Ruswick.

Also back for another season is the lone male member of the group, Brian Wright. High school rules allow boys to turn out with the team and compete in meets, but their results cannot count toward the scoring.

Expected to be a big contributor to the team is freshman Marissa Gregg, who brings a background in club gymnastics to the Spartan roster.

After that, Marton said, “we have a lot of kids who have never done gymnastics before.”

The inexperience might require more hands-on coaching, she said, but it’s an enjoyable task.

“The kids are really anxious to learn and that makes it fun,” she said.

Things are different this year, since the school district mandated – for financial reasons – that the Sumner and Bonney Lake programs turn out together, travel together and compete in the same meets. The Spartan gymnasts hop on a bus after school and travel to Bonney Lake for practice.

The Spartans open the season Dec. 9 with a home meet that will include Bonney Lake High, Auburn and Rogers of Puyallup. A Dec. 16 meet will be at Bonney Lake and will include the host Panthers, Auburn and Puyallup High School. Meets begin at 7 p.m.