Friday, March 3, 2023
By Scott Hennen
shennen@cbussports.com

Jen Hedrick gave her Olentangy Berlin gymnasts some motherly advice in the week’s preparation for their fourth consecutive trip to the state gymnastics team meet.

The fifth-year coach had her athletes clean their bedrooms as a way to keep their minds off the pressure of competing March 3 at Hilliard Bradley.

The strategy worked. Berlin scored 148.05 points to finish second of 12 teams behind Brecksville-Broadview Heights (148.825). It was the school’s highest team finish in a state tournament.

Medina was third with 147.025. The other central Ohio qualifier, Dublin Jerome, was ninth with 138.225.

It was the highest finish at state for the Central District since Thornville Sheridan was runner-up in both 2018 and 2019. Before that, DeSales was runner-up in 2001 and 2002.

“In practice she was stressing to make our routines and also stressing simple things like cleaning your bedrooms to make things less stressful,” senior Stephanie Balthaser said. “She said to do things to keep us busy and so we would be less stressed.”

The Bears’ point total was the second-highest ever for the program after the winning 148.85 put up at district Feb. 25 at Worthington Kilbourne. It’s the highest Central District total in meet history.

It also put a scare into Brecksville-Broadview Heights, which won its 20th consecutive championship and its 23rd overall. The 0.82 margin of victory was the Bees’ slimmest since edging Rocky River Magnificat 145.825 to 145.7 in 2009.

“We had our highest score ever at district and the second highest here at state,” Hedrick said. “You can’t say enough about that.

“All the girls stepped it up this year. Last year our girls were good and they worked hard and they came back even better this year. They did (events with) a higher degree of difficulty and they worked hard over the summer to improve their routines. I am so proud of them.”

The Bears started strong by competing in the balance beam. Freshman Tayten Swain scored a 9.675 to tie the state meet record of Medina Highland’s Paige Yu in 2021. Junior Alex Downing had a 9.475 in the event.

“It was super-exciting starting the meet like that,” said Swain, who was the all-around winner at district with a total of 38.0. “It was definitely a boost of confidence with my team there to support me.”

Last season, Berlin tied Magnificat for sixth (142.6) behind Brecksville-Broadview Heights (147.5). In 2021, the Bears were 10th (138.25), and they were seventh (140.0) in 2020.

“I just think everyone worked really hard and we knew the potential that we had,” Downing said. “I think last year we came in nervous and didn’t have our best performance. So this year we said that we weren’t going to be nervous and just go have some fun. We knew we had put in the work.”

Of the state team lineup, only Balthaser and Nina Krupar are seniors. That means the future should be bright for Hedrick and her talented gymnasts.

“I knew we had a possibility to (finish runner-up) but I didn’t know to what extent,” Hedrick said. “Our goal coming into the season was top three, and we hit that.”