Finally adding a sixth person, freshman Natalie Hesler, to the lineup on the uneven bars didn't help the score as expected. The home meet against Kent State University was another loss for Ball State's gymnastics team. Performances on the uneven bars accounted for 2.950 of that 3.100 point loss with the final score being 187.375-184.275
All four freshmen on the team had injuries before they came to Ball State. However, Hesler has competed since the first meet. On Friday she had a routine on the beam, her first attempt on the bars and an exhibition spot on the floor. When she was done with her routine coach Lisa Simonton hugged her. Simonton said Hesler did awesome.
"She did exactly what we wanted her to do," Simonton said. "She doesn't have her mount ready, nor her dismount, but everything in between she did exactly what the coaches wanted and expected of her. She nailed it, perfect."
Hesler isn't injury free. She still can't do any arching and her workout has to be modified. Simonton said Hesler is stepping it up and that should say something about her character. Hesler is glad to have an exhibition spot on the floor because she said her score wouldn't help the team out if she was competing. However, she said that Friday was one of her better performances.
"I can step it up in certain situations," Hesler said. "I'm just a little freshman but I can blend in with the rest of the upperclassmen."
Hesler got a score of 8.125 for her first time on the bars. Adding her to the lineup for bars was just one change seen at the meet. Sophomore Brittany George had a new mount on the bars, received an 8.250 and earned sixth-place in the all-around. Sophomore Erica Gilkerson had a new bonus combination, placed second on floor and earned fifth-place in the all-around. Sophomore Kaitlyn Wills, who placed fourth in the all-around, had changes in her routine on the beam. Senior Shauna Feeney had an exhibition spot on the beam and junior Lauren West was expected to be in the lineup but hurt herself in warm-ups.
For Simonton it's not about winning. She said she looks forward to it but it doesn't keep her up at night. She said the team isn't going to win until they get more consistent on the uneven bars.
"We've got to do more work, we've got to get more focused and we've got to make things happen at a higher level on the uneven bars," Simonton said. "We just don't have the people we did. We're hoping to get Lauren back in there and hope she gets well."
In any case, she was proud of the gymnasts Friday and said the scores were not indicative of how well they did. Hesler said the same.
"I thought everybody did really good," Hesler said. "We didn't have any big mess-ups but I thought the judges were a little off. I was upset about that."-á
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