Eovaldi Saves Best For Last At State Gym Finals

Make room on that medal rack at the Eovaldi household.

And make room for a new T-shirt, too.

Ella Eovaldi soared to new heights in her last hurrah as an Evanston gymnast Saturday at the Illinois High School Association state finals at Palatine High School, claiming the program’s highest ever individual finish with a fourth place effort on uneven bars.

You know that T-shirt that head coach Mike Spevack has been promising for a full year now, proclaiming Eovaldi as the school’s GOAT --- Greatest of All-Time? It’s on its way.

One year after earning the best finish as an all-around state qualifier for ETHS, Eovaldi captured an elusive medal to add to her bedroom collection. She is only the third Evanston female gymnast ever to bring home a state medal, joining Liz Iacuzzi (fifth in 1999 on bars) and Katie Laatsch (sixth in 1997 on bars) in that exclusive club.

Eovaldi is the only three-time state qualifier for the Wildkits and was the first to ever win a sectional championship.

And she left no doubt about that GOAT status in front of an appreciative state finals crowd.

“I have GOT to get her that T-shirt. That’s definitely happening,” said Spevack. “This is really special, because I know how bad Ella wanted it. It’s nothing short of spectacular, what she’s been able to accomplish. At every meet, it’s like she comes out of the bleachers and says ‘now watch this’ and she tops herself. She’s incapable of not impressing me at every turn.

“She’s so freaking talented and she’s leaving a legacy here of the heights you can get to if you want it to happen. She wanted it --- and she attained it. What a way for her to end her high school career! She pumped life into our program with the example she set for everyone.”

Eovaldi scored a season best 9.5 on her final routine after advancing out of the preliminaries Friday with a score of 9.35. She trailed only Nora Terhaar of Prairie Ridge (9.575), Jolee Waddington of Palatine (9.55) and Anya Patel of Hinsdale South (9.525) when the final numbers were crunched Saturday at Palatine.

The senior standout wasn’t feeling so hot physically --- a touch of the flu bothered her in the prelims --- and she had to put the disappointment of failing to get out of the sectional round as an all-around qualifier behind her because she still had one more opportunity on the big stage this weekend.

But bars has been her best event for awhile now and her score has only dipped below the 9.0 mark once this season.

“When I didn’t make it in the all-around, after making it last year, I was really upset for about a day,” Eovaldi recalled. “But then I tried to change my mindset to focus on how well I could do on bars. I just decided to put everything into my bars routine.

“It’s such a big deal to win a medal here at State. I feel like I’ve always wanted to get a place at State (since she started competing at age 7). When I watched the state finals in the past I wanted the attention, I wanted the pressure, I wanted to be in front of the crowds like they were. And I got my best bars routine ever here at State!

“I was kinda surprised when I heard the score (9.5). I can score a 9.5 or an 8.9 with the same routine, and I honestly don’t see the difference when that happens. I just tried to worry about the things I can control, not the score.

“Anyone can do some of these tricks a couple of times. Overall it’s really about consistency. Last year, I really didn’t know I had this kind of potential on bars, but I worked hard on it. At this point (state finals) everyone is good and the scores are very similar. I was pretty nervous yesterday, but I’m confident in what I can do and I turned those nerves into excitement.”

Eovaldi combined her strength, style and timing to produce an elite performance one last time. And now she’s got a medal to show for it.

“Ella is, without question, the best gymnast I’ve ever coached in my life,” said Spevack, a former elite competitor and state placer himself. “Bars is really a combination of strength and timing in my mind. If you’re off in your timing for just a fraction of a second, that can make a big difference. It takes a level of discipline and skill where you have to be so powerful and so precise to compete at that level. You can’t save yourself (when you wobble slightly) during a bars routine, not like in the other events.

“You have to have the right timing to know when to apply your strength and that can take years to learn. Ella scored OK when she was a freshman, but she kept adding skills and that bumped her score up. And every year I saw her timing get better and better.”

Since the nature of the sport is that no one earns perfect 10s across the board, most gymnasts know that their best can always be better. And when asked about the GOAT designation, Eovaldi responded that “I know I could have done much better on the other events” this season.

“As a freshman, I didn’t really understand the steps it takes (to succeed at an elite level),” said the ETHS senior. “As a sophomore and junior I figured out the skills I needed to get. And this year, I had the expectation that I was capable of reaching this level. It’s always been my goal to get the highest place I possibly could.”

No Wildkit has ever soared higher.