The gymnastics team might be losing a lot more than a top three finish at sectionals.

With the relocation of the freshmen, the high school lost one gym, even with the construction of the auxiliary gym.

“At the beginning of the season, they weren’t sure where to have us,” head coach Jody Ramey said.

The school was planning on placing them at an outside gym full time. The positives of that include eliminating equipment set up and take down time and providing equipment the school can’t afford.

But practicing in an outside gym also has its negatives.

“Because we practice outside the school now, it’s taking the high school out of the sport,” sophomore co-captain Esma Taylor said.

Practicing primarily in an outside gym “takes away from it being a high school program” according to Ramey. “I feel like [being able to relax at the home gym practices] was really just a missing part of it because that’s where that family [aspect] comes in.”

Wherever the team ended up practicing, they would be at the gym for two hours, five days a week. Despite being told at the beginning of the season that this year would probably be their last, the team still worked hard, trying to beat their goals, learn new skills and do their best as a young team.

With a 97.375 score at sectionals, the girls did just that.

“We got over the 94 [point mark] that we’ve been working so hard to get over,” sophomore Sydney Anway said.

To accomplish such a fourth place finish at sectionals, the gymnasts had to dedicate themselves to learning new skills and improving their abilities.

“It was my goal for each girl to be able to learn at least one, if not two, or more skills than they had from the beginning of the season,” Ramey said. “And with that being said, I feel that’s a successful end of the season.”

Even more impressive is the fact that all of the gymnasts were freshmen and sophomores except two, and seven of the girls were new to the team.

“All of our seniors graduated last year, who were obviously the really good ones because they had been on the team forever, so we had a really young team this year,” sophomore Maddie VanBuskirk said.

With such success, the team hopes they can compete next year and make it past sectionals. If their program was cut, however, any chance of holding up a state trophy would be lost.

“If they were to cut us, we would lose that part to show how good our school is and how well developed we are,” Anway said.

  The possibility of their program being cut terrifies some of the gymnasts, but with the managing of gym space throughout the season and the team’s perseverance, the skies are looking clearer for next year.

“I think once things kind of worked out throughout the season–thank goodness–it sounds like we’ll be here next year,” Ramey said.

And thankfully for the team, Athletic Director Michael Hasch has now relegated their fears irrelevant.

“There will be a gymnastics team for the 2015-2016 school year,” Hasch said.