After going through their regular season meets, the Odessa High and Permian gymnastics teams are ready to test themselves at the 2022 District Meet.
All four teams will make the two-and-a-half hour trip to start competing in the compulsory round Thursday at Abilene Cooper.
Final standings will be decided in the optional round Friday.
Permian boys coach Chris Soto said he’s anticipating some tough competition at the upcoming meet, so he’s taken some time to strategize on what events his team needs to spruce up.
“Looking at some of their strengths, which are typically our weaknesses, some of the other teams are a little more dominant in floor and vault,” Soto said. “I know that we can really, really have a strong showing on pommel horse, rings and P-bars.”
Each Odessa team has seen gymnasts step up to provide solid numbers as all-around competitors.
For the Permian boys, those athletes have been Sincere Galindo and Jared Gonzalez.
After losing Quatre Haskins to an ankle injury, the Panthers have seen the duo make the jump to keep their team in good form.
While Galindo is the team’s top all-arounder, Soto wants to see Gonzalez use the district meet to keep improving his routines.
“He still has a lot of room to improve, but he’s been surprising me a little bit every now and then with his outcomes and results,” Soto said. “He’s coming up pretty quickly, I just would like to see him improve a little faster before the regional championship.”
Odessa High and Permian will be joined at the competition by San Angelo Central and Abilene ISD’s high schools.
Permian girls coach Casey Werner said her team’s main goal is to get closer to the 215 point mark that would qualify them for the state meet.
The Lady Panthers would need to reach that point total at the regional competition, which is scheduled to take place April 8-9 in El Paso.
Fixing falls on their beam routine has been a point of emphasis for the Permian girls after their most recent meet in San Angelo.
“The little things we need to fix are the little wobbles on beam, the falls on beam,” Werner said. “We had I think four falls, so that adds up to about three points.”
Isabella Fanucci and Sydney Vaughn have taken over as the top gymnasts for the Lady Panthers, pushing each other to achieve strong results in their senior season.
The duo qualified for last year’s state competition, but only Fanucci made the trip to Euless.
Throughout the season, the Odessa High boys have been trying to put puzzle pieces together through each meet.
They have treated their competitions as learning experiences and coach Trey Enriquez believes that will be the objective at district.
“I want them to be looking at, they have an opportunity to see what they have now after putting all the puzzle pieces together,” Enriquez said.
Jabezz Chavez and Jesse Hernandez have stood out to Enriquez because of their performances this year.
Chavez has been consistent for the Bronchos through his four years in the program, showing that he could battle back from an elbow injury in his junior season.
The senior has a large impact on the Odessa High boys’ standings along with Hernandez.
Enriquez calls Hernandez a ‘thermostat’ for his team, positively influencing the team when he’s hot through his events.
When he has an off day, it has the opposite effect on the Bronchos.
“What that means is that he could help with the team’s excitement, he could help get the team’s energy going,” Enriquez said. “He could help with so much of the team on getting us where we need to be at by motivation, by encouraging.”
Odessa High girls coach Tony Gonzales will go into the district meet with a group largely comprised of freshmen gymnasts.
The top competitors for the Lady Bronchos have been Victoria Alvarez and Braygen Billingsley, two seniors.
“I think the leadership that the seniors bring is pretty good because the freshmen look up to them,” Gonzales said. “They have gotten comfortable with them and they’re learning things from them.”
After their last meet, Gonzales saw his team start to build consistency in its routines but he knows there is work to do against teams like San Angelo Central and Permian.
Gonzales believes his gymnasts became more motivated after seeing the competition they’ll be facing earlier in the year.
Competing in the Key City Invitational in December gave the Lady Bronchos learning experiences to build from as they head into district.
The way the team’s freshmen have progressed has been encouraging for Gonzales.
“It’s interesting to see how they manage that, sometimes it’s a challenge and they take it real hard,” he said. “It’s a learning process, if you’re athletic and you’re competitive, you’re going to take it.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
