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Young Cougars get on-the-job training

MHS gymnastics team rebuilding

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   You can’t fault Johanna Snedeker if she feels a little like Yogi Berra.
   For the Montgomery High gymnastics coach, this year truly is like deja vu all over again.
   It wasn’t all that long ago that Snedeker had a young roster filled with gymnasts with plenty of potential. Those gymnasts lived up to their potential and last year the Cougars put together their best season in school history.
   This year, the Cougars again find themselves with a young lineup and loads of potential. Snedeker can see plenty of similarities to the situation her team was in a few years ago.
   ”We’re building to that year,” said Snedeker, whose team is 1-3 following a 109.85-102.775 loss to Hillsborough last Wednesday. “That will happen. This year will be OK. But we need a year or two for the younger girls to get used to the competition level. We’ll get better each year and the year after will be a big year for us.”
   Snedeker has seen that happen before, as the Cougars built on each year to get to the point they did last year. She’s hoping this group of young gymnasts can do the same thing.
   ”This year is a rebuilding year for us,” Snedeker said. “We’re starting mostly freshmen and sophomores. These are nervous times and they are a little uncertain, but that goes with being young. That has not happened to us the past couple of years. We’ve had more experience.
   ”Laura (Ng), Ashley (Williams) and Emily (Wang) are the people we have back with the most experience. Unfortunately, Emily got hurt and she is out right now. These girls have provided us with great older leadership.”
   There are plenty of young gymnasts to be led this year for the Cougars. There are a number of freshmen who are already contributing at the varsity level.
   ”We have four freshmen that have come in and three are competing on the varsity,” Snedeker said. “We’ll see a lot from Sam Hering. She started in this in better shape than most people because of her training. Alexa Tavaras and Emily Campeas are two other freshmen who have come in and done well. The girls are all dedicated to the sport and all three are starting for us, which is a lot of pressure for a freshman.”
   In the loss to Hillsborough, Hering was second on bars and Campeas was third on beam. Ng finished third on vault and was second all around.
   It’s a different makeup than the veteran team of a year ago. But it is one that could eventually grow into the same sort of successful team that had the school’s best season a year ago.
   ”This really is a different team,” Snedeker said. “Ashley Williams and Devon O’Connor are our captains and they have done a great job of combining the old and the new. The girls are doing very well.”