Local Gymnasts Looking For a State Title

Eyeing an elusive state title, the Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall gymnastics team will be one of the teams to beat at the WIAA Division 1 State Meet this weekend. The competition for individual state qualifiers will take place on Friday with the team competition on Saturday at the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Fieldhouse.

The seven-member co-op varsity squad includes four gymnasts from Muskego (senior Erin Honerlaw, junior Courtney L’Huillier and sophomores Shannon Hein and Sammie Olson), two from Franklin (senior Becky Schultz and sophomore Melanie Pearson) and one from Whitnall (sophomore Lauren Zurowski).

After finishing fourth at the 2008 State Meet, FMOW was the runner-up to Arrowhead in 2009 and 2010.

“We had the opportunity twice and didn’t make good on it,” said fourth-year head coach Katie Moore, a Muskego resident. “We’re hoping to get that opportunity again and be able to follow through.”

FMOW is coming off a sectional meet on Saturday at Janesville Craig that saw the team post a first-place team score of 146.05 – the highest in the state this season.

Moore is hoping for a repeat performance this weekend.

“That would be awesome,” she said.

Before Monday’s practice at Altius Gymnastics in Franklin, Moore was asked what makes this team special.

“For starters, they’re really talented,” she said. “We’ve gone through a lot. We lost a couple of girls to injury. They’ve been working hard day in and day out. I think they’ve just kept their eyes focused on where they want to be.”

In Friday’s individual meet, six of the seven FMOW gymnasts will be in action.

L’Huillier will take part in the floor exercise, Olson will compete on the uneven bars, Honerlaw, Pearson and Schultz will compete on the balance beam and Zurowski will compete on vault. Olson, Pearson and Zurowski will also be competing in the all-around.

Olson, the team’s top all-arounder, won a sectional bars championship last week with a 9.55 and is one of the favorites in the event.

“She won bars quite a bit this year at various invites that we’ve been in,” Moore said. “She’s always in the top three, but she’s won quite a few. I’m thinking that she should be near the top if not at the top on Friday.”

Honerlaw is a three-time state qualifier on beam. She placed 16^th last year after taking ninth as a sophomore.

“That’s her best event,” Moore said. “This is her third time at state and she’s hasn’t gotten a medal yet. I think this is going to be her year.”

Despite having four sophomores in the varsity lineup, FMOW can be considered a veteran group.

“They’re young, but they did compete at the state meet last year,” Moore said. “They were part of that whole experience. They know what kind of focus it takes to win the meet. We were nearly perfect last year and that wasn’t good enough.”