by Geoff Lepper
BTo show just how powerful a bonding effect the Central Coast Section gymnastics championships had on the defending champions from Gunn, consider the kind of making up Bo Schnitz is going to have to do. Asked if the Titans had any superstitions going into last Saturday's meet at the California Sports Center in San Jose, the senior co-captain replied, "No. Not really.
"The only thing we try to do is stay together. It's a matter of staying with the team for the whole meet. I mean, my boyfriend came here, and I didn't even say, 'Hi,' to him. He came and he left, and I hardly even made eye contact with him. And that's generally the way everyone feels, is that we have to stay together and cheer everyone on."
Fortunately, such dedication doesn't often go unrewarded. For Schnitz, the reward was first crack at holding Gunn's second consecutive CCS championship trophy, which the Titans earned by holding off St. Francis, 173.75 to 173.05. The win complete Gunn's second straight undefeated season, as the Titans went 13-0 and upped their win streak to 25 straight meets.
Coach Diane Carson Gibbs knew that team unity would be a crucial factor for her team, so she called the Titans together for a pre-meet breakfast at her house. "We wanted the team to bond some more, and we didn't feel like doing it late last night," she said.
Junior Rachel Hopkins, who finished second in the individual all-around competition, described the team aspect as a key. "We're just such a team, and we've worked so hard to do this. I think it's just so great," Hopkins said.
Co-captain Rachel Allen, a four-year Titan gymnast, has watched the program's ascent with pride.
"It's really good to see how the team's improved," she said. "We've gone back and watched tapes of previous meets, like last year's CCS, and it's just amazing to see how well we've all improved. It's just the little things, but the little things add up to something big."
Such as a CCS championship. Once again, the team philosophy of Gunn--which featured five of the top 14 all-around gymnasts--had to overcome a superlative individual effort by St. Francis' Karin Silvestri. Silvestri was the individual champion on three of four events (only Hopkins' gold on the parallel bars prevented a sweep) and overall all-around winner for a third straight year. Thanks to Silvestri's anchoring scores, the Lancers were within .4 points after three rotations, and St. Francis' best event--the floor exercise--was coming up.
Up stepped Gunn's unlikely hero, Shelli Bein. Under the Titans' house rules, the six gymnasts who held the highest average scores on each event over the 12 regular-season meets would be sent to fill Gunn's six CCS spots. Bein qualified only on the balance beam, but she made her routine count. The 9.0 she put up--after waiting all day long for this one event--was a dagger to the heart of the scoreboard-watching St. Francis gymnasts, who simply didn't have an answer for that kind of performance.
Schnitz wasn't too sad the hear about the Lancers' crestfallen reaction after Bein's score was posted.
"We see how they (St. Francis) react to our scores and how they react to their own scores and it gets us really steamed," Schnitz said. "Usually, when other teams are going, you'll cheer, you'll clap, but they'll just sit there. So in a way, it does make it a little bit more satisfying when we beat a team like that."
Hopkins is looking forward to another challenge from St. Francis next year. "We're going to lose Rachel and Bo, which is a big difference, but I think we still have depth. And their star (Silvestri) has just left and I think that's what makes them go."
Though their complement was only one gymnast, Palo Alto made a respectable showing thanks to the third-place all-around finish of Monica Yoon. Yoon took home five individual medals, but was obviously concious of being the only Viking in the room.
"It's hard without your team," Yoon said, as she turned to look at the Titans' victory celebration. "It's harder just because you don't have anyone to support you at all."
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