Harger flips to state gymnastics title

Tumbling, spinning, and whirling through the sky like gravity doesn’t exist, freshman Ariana Harger flipped to gold at her level nine state championship gymnastics meet on March 25 in Stockton.

At the meet Harger began on her best event, floor, and she wowed the crowd with her powerful tumbling and eye-catching dance. She earned a score of 9.575 out of ten, a score that would hold up at first throughout the night.

On her second event, vault, Harger sprinted towards a table, then at the last moment threw herself upside down over the table and landed on her feet. Harger’s vault earned her a score of 9.375, her best score of the season, which would land her solidly in second place for the vault.

Next, Harger moved onto bars. There she executed impressively, holding lines and flying high above the ground and earned a score of 9.5. This score also stuck her landing in second place.

Finally, Harger moved on to the ever capricious beam. There she pulled off a beautiful routine, except for two falls. Each of these fall cost her .5 points and she earned a score of 8.65 and seventh place.

Even with the disaster on beam, Harger placed second overall and easily qualified for her regional meet, which includes California, Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada, and Utah. From there she’ll move on to Westerns, a meet with only the best girls from every state west of the Mississippi river.

“My favorite part of gymnastics is the feeling of flying, but it only lasts for a second. Then you have to catch something or land… so you don’t die,” said Harger.

Harger has been doing gymnastics for 12 years, since she was three. She practices over twenty hours a week and sacrifices everything to make time for the sport she loves. It takes amazing dedication to be able to perform at the level that Harger does.

“Harger’s mental game is strong, she’s a competitor which really helps with the mental aspect of this sport,” said Neal Gallant, one of Harger’s coaches.

In a sport which a typical practice that includes, an hour of cardio, strength, and conditioning before continuing on to four events physical strength and mental strength are equally important.

Harger accredits her success in gymnastics to, “natural talent and a lot of hard work.” She also says that her teammates and friends, even among competitors, make all the hard work worth it.

“If Harger performs what she’s capable of she should do very well at Westerns, she definitely could be at the top of her age group,” said Gallant.

Harger hopes to continue in her gymnastics, at least long enough to get a college scholarship, like many of her teammates already have.