By Katy Westlund, UW News Lab Student

The Ballard High School gymnastics team has been performing a balancing act, and not just on the beam.

Health issues and injuries have plagued the team in recent weeks. And the pressure is always on to improve overall team performance. With the upcoming Kingco championships scheduled at Ballard High School on Saturday, Feb. 5, the gymnasts know that they have things to work on, but the possibility of success is exciting.

“Every year we’ve gone a little bit farther and a little bit farther and each record that we set we’ve gotten really excited about,” said senior and co-captain Ashley Hart. “It’s been so genuine, and for us to go to state as a team would be the most amazing thing imaginable.”

Molly Barnes, another senior and co-captain, believes that the mood of the team has been a huge influence on their performance this year.

“I think it has been so positive, more positive than I’ve seen it any other year here at Ballard,” said Barnes. “At this point we are really working as a unit, which I think is really good. We lean on each other and we feed off each other. I think that is really healthy and has made the atmosphere in the gym so much better every day.“

Head coach Stephanie Gundel, who was nominated for Coach of the Year in 2009, spoke about the challenges the team has run into and how they will prepare for the upcoming Kinco meet.

“A few people were sick and we’ve had some injuries and so this week was a little rougher practicing,” Gundel said. “We hope to use the next meets before Kingco to get a little more consistent. We’ve set ourselves up to do well at Kingco; hopefully we can just build on what we have.”

Taylor Stern, who finished fourth overall at state in 2010 and is also a senior and co-captain on the team, has been battling injuries and is working on getting herself ready for Kingco.

“My back has been giving me issues for a week or so, so I am just trying to get that better and everything should go uphill from there,” said Stern. “I want to feel more confident on beam, try to stay healthy and get as many hours of practicing in as I can. Just basically clean up my routines.”

Stern is a top contender in the upcoming meets. She learned from her experiences in the state meet last year and hopes to do even better this year.

“I’ve learned that you really need to put your best effort out there. I did last year but I fell at state. If I just focus on cleaning up my routines I can do better,” Stern stated after the Jan. 20 meet against Redmond, Issaquah and Inglemoor high schools.

She came in second place in the all-around competition with a score of 35.850, just falling short of Olivia Goree of Issaquah who scored a 36.600.

Placing first in that meet in the bars and floor competition, Stern did help Ballard clench team victory, adding to their score of 167.950.

Now the team’s focus turns to the coming meet.

“I think that in order to get to state as a team we need to start thinking like one,” said Barnes. “It’s about who wants it at this point and we want it, we just have to show it.”

Stern gives credit to the community and school for supporting the team this year.

“Everyone at school is rallying for us. The administrators, the principal,” she said. “They’re always asking how the team is doing. It’s nice to have a good community backing us up.”

(Katy Westlund is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.)