On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Meridian gymnastics team completed their regionals competition, marking the first time the entire Meridian squad participated at Regionals. In fact, senior Elizabeth Chang and freshman Rebecca Degnan became the first Mustangs to make states. Degnan earned her spot by placing fourth in bars, and Chang placed third on vault. The gymnastics team was first created in the fall of 2023, and has never sent any gymnasts to states prior to this year.
Coach Natalie Glees, voiced praise for her team after their powerful performance.
“I am so incredibly proud of this team! It has been amazing to see their growth over the years. We started the program three years ago with mostly freshman and sophomores. Now they are juniors and seniors, competing better than ever before,” coach Glees exclaimed. “Every meet, multiple girls are hitting personal bests in an event.”
The Mustangs placed fourth overall out of ten teams. Team captain Sienna Dawson shared her thoughts on the meet.
“Overall, I think the meet went really well for the team, and everyone really brought out their best to make this a good end to our season.”
These accomplishments from both a team and individual standpoint are made more impressive by the lackluster support the team receives from the school. There are no apparatuses or mats \ in the Meridian gym, which forces the team to travel to Barcroft Sport and Fitness Center in order to practice.
Additionally, even after three years, the team is still forced to take vans, not buses, to most of their competitions, due to a lack of funding for the team.
“Every meet our first year, judges would look confused when they saw our team and would ask us: “Where is Meridian?” remarked coach Glees. “But after regionals this year, a judge came up to us to congratulate our team. She had remembered seeing our girls in December and thinking they did really well. It was an amazing full circle moment.”
The team will continue to cheer on Degnan and Chang as they look to showcase their abilities at states, which are being held in Virginia Beach.
