Whiz Kid: Lauren Zurowski

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Lauren Zurowski

• Whiz Kid's Name/Grade: Lauren Zurowski/10th
• Whiz Kid's School: Whitnall High School
• Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Zurowski not only helped the Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall gymnastics team win the Division 1 state team title, but she was the individual vaulting champion as well.
• Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: Read on ...

When asked which felt better – winning the WIAA Division 1 vaulting title on Friday or helping the local co-op she is a part of win the team title the next afternoon – Whitnall sophomore Lauren Zurowski answered without hesitation.

“Saturday,” Zurowski said, referring to the team title. “I knew I wanted to make it to state, but I wasn’t really focused on individuals. I just wanted the team (the Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall co-op) to win the state meet because the last two years we were runners-up.

“I wasn’t expecting to win vault. It was kind of really shocking.”

Zurowski won the event at the state meet in Wisconsin Rapids with a score of 9.567 to become just the second individual champion in the program’s history, joining Julie Stefen, who won six individual titles in 1998-99.

“It doesn’t really seem real,” Zurowski said. “It’s really awesome, but I can’t even believe it. All the students at school and the staff have been congratulating me.”

Zurowski was in the last rotation of gymnasts at the meet and matched up with some of the division’s top competitors. She wound up edging Janesville Craig’s Ashley Pohlman (9.55) and West Allis Hale/Central’s Emily Fuchs (9.5).

“I was watching them and they were getting pretty awesome scores,” Zurowski said. “I said to myself, ‘If I do what I usually do, I can do this.’”

The next night, Zurowski posted a 9.6 on the vault and performed well on the balance beam, bars and floor to help the .

The sophomore, who is one of just three Whitnall athletes in the program and the only one on the varsity, hopes her performance and that of the team gets more Whitnall girls interested in joining.

“That would be so awesome,” if that happened, she said. “Then more people would watch the team and know how good we are. … The school has noticed that the team is pretty awesome because we won the state meet. Before, they didn’t even know we had a team.”