VIDEO UPDATE: Ott Finishes Her Stellar Gymnastics Career

A year ago, Ashley Puff couldn’t even fathom the idea that she’d be competing for a state gymnastics title—in Illinois.

A year from now, Emily Ott won’t likely be thinking about gymnastics, since she will be busy studying engineering at Auburn—in Alabama.

For Friday, at least, Puff and Ott were in Palatine, representing the Geneva girls gymnastics team in the IHSA State Girls Gymnastics Finals. Both gymnasts advanced out of the Lake Park sectional on the floor exercise and competed in Friday’s preliminary round.

Neither gymnast advanced to Saturday’s finals. The top 10 finalists in the floor exercise advanced. Prairie Ridge co-op’s Jenny Covers posted the best score on floor with a 9.8. The cutoff proved to be 9.4, where there was a three-way tie for 8^th place, which included St. Charles resident/St. Edward student-athlete, Abby Madden.

Puff was just about flawless with her floor routine and took 21st place with a 9.2. She posted a 9.425 during the sectional.

“It was a great experience just being here today,” she said. “At regional I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it to sectional, so to make it through to here is pretty exciting.”

Performing in front of a big audience, as well as several of her teammates and friends, made the moment something she won’t soon forget.

“The energy here today was great,” she said. “I had Emily (Ott) supporting me and a bunch of teammates. It was just a great experience overall, the whole season really.”

Ott succumbed to a stumble on one of her passes, which knocked her down to 27th place. She closed her brilliant career for the Vikings with a 9.05.

"It wasn't my best day, but I still had a lot of fun," Ott said. "You can’t have the best meet every time, and I still did OK. I’m just glad to be able to be here again.”

While disappointed that Ott didn’t advance to Saturday’s finals, Geneva coach Kim Hostman will never forget the many contributions and success Ott helped bring to the program.

“It would’ve been an even nicer finish to her career to advance, but it didn’t happen,” Hostman said. “She’s just been such a great leader and had such a great career. She had a lot to do with it being such a fun season for the girls.”

While Hostman hasn’t thought much about next year’s team, which will be quite different after Ott, Blythe Boyle, Erin Kluck, Sadie Dainko and Alycia Hostman graduate, the Vikings should be highly competitive again.

While Puff would appear to be the team’s top returnee next winter, the Vikings should also get standout Kaitlyn Kanarowski back for her senior year. Kanarowski missed the entire 2010-11 season due to injuries. Freshman Claire Scatterday and sophomore Haley Carroll are also expected to return and play big roles, along with specialists Jenna Ginseberg and Alexis Graham, as well as a talented group of underclassmen.

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