Gymnasts make improvements at home invite

By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The young inexperienced Waterford High School gymnastics squad saw some of the best gymnasts in the state at the Pam Beck Emerald Invite held Saturday at WHS.
The Wolverine girls came in a distant seventh out of the seven teams, but head coach Carrie Buelow is glad her girls get to see such great competition.
“The teams at that meet are top in the state,” Buelow noted. “It’s a great opportunity for them to learn. They got a chance to see the big skills.”
Among the teams at this invitational are Burlington and Franklin Combined. Franklin Combined has won state the past two seasons, with Burlington second each time.
Burlington won this event with a score of 145.725. Franklin was second with a 142.850.
Waterford’s score of 115.925 was slightly higher than its 115.125 scored at Westosha Central earlier last week.
Sophomore Sam Dziak was the top Wolverine gymnast in every event, placing ninth in the all-around competition with a score of 31.850.
“You should see a lot more of her as she gets comfortable competing again,” Buelow said, adding the Dziak had been out of gymnastics for a couple years.
Sophomore Ambria Noll has been out of action recently due to an injury, but Buelow hopes she will return in a couple weeks.
At this point, Buelow noted the team is measuring progress by what skills they are mastering and improvements from meet to meet.
One change announced before the meet last week: the name of the meet was officially changed to the “Pam Beck Emerald Invite” to honor long-time head coach Pam Beck, who retired a few years ago.
Beck said Saturday she was surprised by the honor, having found out the night before.