Gymnastics team looks to a new and different season

The River Valley/Barneveld High School gymnastics team will be led by Julie Kuhse who is returning to the position of head coach. This is the 39th year for Kuhse, who has been a volunteer, head coach, assistant coach, and back to head coach over the years. Her overall record stands at 949 wins and 931 losses, which includes state competition.  Kuhse will be assisted this year by Brianna Bindl and Jessica Gilbert who are both in their 5th season with the team.  “The girls have a good work ethic.  Everyone is pushing themselves and their teammates. Many work out in the off-season and it shows. We have new skills, many near-skills that are attainable in our short season. It’s seems funny to say, but our practice ethic – masks and social distancing and generally following the guidelines outside of the gym will be what makes or breaks us this season,” Kuhse said.  Kenzie Fruit and Megan Feick were lost to graduation. This year, returning letter winners are senior Ericka Heath, junior Katie Forseth, junior Emily Noble, junior Sofia Sanftlenben who qualified for state in 2019, junior Lorisa Shatrawka who was the 2019 state beam champ and holds the D2 beam record, sophomore Morgan Bowell and sophomore McKenzie Kruse.  “We have solid all-around gymnasts, and I could put any of the top eight all-arounds in a varsity lineup. Lorisa Shatrawka sustained a major ankle injury a few weeks ago and we are not sure how long she will be sidelined. Knowing that we have eight other candidates on each event is somewhat reassuring,” Kuhse continued. “Our depth, our commitment, and… I’ve never said this before… Luck will make this a successful year.  Every day we have in the gym is a gift. If we can stay healthy, we will do great things. Unfortunately, there won’t be standard measure of our success as we’ve known it. We don’t know what conference, sectionals, or state will look like at this time, if there will be one, or who will be COVID eligible to participate.  “We are masking 100 percent of the time in the gym, sanitizing equipment each night, hand sanitizing between events. We have the girls practicing in cohorts and socially distancing within.  Each girl has their own chalk bucket.  The goal is - even if someone is quarantined, it won’t affect anyone else. There will be a limit of two spectators for each participant at competitions. Many schools do not allow visiting spectators, which is unfortunate. We hope to have every event live streamed.  “This year’s season will be interesting. Five of our meets have been cancelled – invites, and our meets at the start of the season due to not having enough practices in.  We are doing everything we can in the gym to keep the girls safe and distanced from one another so that if one should happen to contract COVID, it wouldn’t take down the entire team.  This will be a season like no other. No one wins in this situation. We are just hoping to provide a creative outlet for these talented athletes, in hopes of a better situation for next season,” Kuhse concluded.