When sophomore Sammie Boster woke up early Saturday to get ready for the IHSAA gymnastics state competition, she had no idea she would finish the day as a champion. Boster, coached Christy Dzierba, Jordan Bush, and Jordan Kirby, placed 8th overall with a combined score of 37.200.
Boster, who has been doing gymnastics since she was three, began the day on bars. As she tells it, “It definitely wasn’t my best bar routine this season, but it still wasn’t bad…I was happy with it.”
In true Simone Biles fashion, bars is Boster’s least favorite event. Despite not liking bars as much as her other events, Boster earned a 9.050 from the judges. Then, she moved on to her favorite event: beam.
“I felt pretty confident going into beam. Which is good, because if I’m ever nervous going into something, it usually doesn’t end up well,” Boster said. “When I finished and saw my score, I was definitely feeling really good.”
After her routine was done, Boster waited anxiously for her score.
“I was excited but also really nervous. I don’t remember a whole lot of how I felt or looked,” she said. She ended up scoring 9.675, the best score of the day by all gymasts by two tenths of a point.
Then, floor. Boster didn’t realize at first, but the floor judges were being harsh that day.
“On floor, they were judging really hard. When I saw my score I was a little bit disappointed,” Boster recalled. “Definitely not what I expected.” She scored a 9.050, same as on bars.
Vault was Boster’s last event of the day, and she was a little shaken after floor.
“I was a little upset with my floor, but I had to change my mindset,” said Boster. “I did my first vault, which was really good and I was really happy with it. The second one, I actually fell.”
Missing a vault landing is actually not uncommon in gymnastics. As Boster describes the event, “It’s definitely a little bit scary. You just have to go and hope you don’t land on your head.”
Although Boster fell on her second vault, she ended up earning a 9.425 from the judges, who take the highest of the competitors’ two vaults.
Boster finished the day with an overall score of 37.200, landing her in a solid 8th place overall. And since she’s just a sophomore now, Boster has goals for the years ahead of her, which include improving her bars skills and being more prepared.
“Next season, I want to go into the season with everything already cleaned up…with a really strong start. That way it just gets even better throughout the season,” she said.
When asked to give advice to aspiring gymnasts, Boster had some insight to give.
“Sometimes it’s hard to push yourself when you are either scared to do something or don’t want to do something but that’s most important. It’s how you get better,” she said.
Boster looks forward to adding more medals to her stash in the next two years of her high school career.
