Bowers keeping gymnasts fresh with light practice this week

Joseph Landor on March 2, 2011 in College Entry

The No. 15 Washington gymnastics team had a different focus in practice this week, rather than just focusing on Yurchenkos and dismounts.

“We noticed that when a girl finishes her routine and everyone is just going nuts, subliminally, could that help with the judging?” head coach Joanne Bowers said coyly. “We were practicing throwing the head back and acting like this is the best routine you have ever done … we were like, let’s just try a little bit harder to just go nuts. We are trying to think of any little thing that could give us an advantage.”

If there ever was a point in the season when the Huskies would need a boost, it would be at tonight’s meet against Michigan State at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The UW has encountered a perfect storm of potential complacency, caught in a lull in the season between this past weekend’s breakout performance at Oregon State, next week’s Senior Night and the impending postseason.

“It is definitely hard,” sophomore Paige Bixler said of keeping up the team’s energy. “Especially because everybody is starting to have little pains and aches right now.”

Bowers has tried to counter this slump by lightening the load during practice this week, shortening Monday and Tuesday’s sessions in an attempt to focus the team’s energy on the task at hand.

One gymnast who could certainly use a little extra rest is junior Ruby Engreitz. Engreitz began the season as a floor and beam specialist for the Huskies, and was at one point ranked as one of the nation’s top 10 performers on bars. However, this weekend she will compete in the all-around for the fifth consecutive week, emerging as the team’s best all-around gymnast.

“An all-around gymnast is valued by everybody,” Bowers said. “It is tough to be able to do, because you are training every single day [for] every event … Physically, for your body, week in and week out, it is daunting.”

Engreitz acknowledges that the wear and tear can be physically challenging. But in her book, the mental struggle is even more prominent.

“It is a different strategy,” she said of preparing mentally for the all-around, rather than just two events. “You have to conserve energy a little bit more. I am usually pretty mellow during warm-ups and in between routines, and then during the meet I kind of zone in for my routines … it is a balancing act of when to be calm and when to be excited.”

So far this season, she has been excited at all the right times. Two weeks ago against Arizona State, Engreitz scored a career-high 39.35 and was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week.

“It is pretty rewarding to have the hard work in the gym pay off and to be able to compete in all four events,” she said.

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