After an impressive and highly improved season, the varsity gymnastics team was knocked out of their post season district tournament on Feb. 3. Although they ended in last place, the gymnasts showed great improvement and lost by the closest deficit in years, only seven points from the fifth place team, West Springfield.

This was out of the six gymnastics teams that the Patriot District consists of: Lake Braddock, West Springfield, Lee, Woodson, West Potomac and AHS. Unfortunately, no members of the team will be advancing to the Northern Region Competition.

Amajor factor that contributed to the large leap in skill and higher level of performance this season was the addition of new members to the varsity team.

After winter cheer was eliminated as a school sport, varsity cheerleaders Ashlyn Nisker and Carli Loeb joined the gymnastics team. Both gymnasts came close to qualifying for regionals; Loeb only two places away in 10th and Nisker ten places away in 18th.

“Our team made lots of improvements and worked really hard,” Nisker said.

Nisker and Loeb led the team in points this season, both having backgrounds in gymnastics as well as tumbling. However, the pair was out for about a month each; Nisker due to illness and Loeb for a neck sprain injury. The long absence hurt the team during the regular season competitions.

Due to the budget cuts, gymnastics at AHS has no official head coach. The girls have to practice with the Lake Braddock team at their school and are instructed by the Bruin head coach, Ellen Hagan-Bowerman. While AHS finished in last, Lake Braddock finished first in the district.

Another setback that has been a long-time issue with the team is that they have no practice facility. There are a limited number of gymnastics venues available in the area, and only a few schools that have the equipment necessary to train. In addition to AHS, W.T. Woodson and West Springfield must also travel to Lake Braddock’s gym for practice between five and six times per week.

“Practicing with Lake Braddock definitely motivated us, but it would be so much better if we had our own coach, maybe even our own place to practice,” Nisker said.

This means that for meets the Atoms had to commute to Lake Braddock, Hanover, South Lakes, Herndon and Stone Bridge high schools to compete in the competitions.

“I think we had a great season and everyone did a lot better,” senior Adrienne Williams said. Williams is a captain of the team along with senior Anne Marie Weiner. Williams and Weiner have been members of the team since their junior year.

However, that’s not to say there is no room for improvement.

“I think the season went well, but it could have been better,” junior Ready Berehe said.

“Overall, everyone did really well and worked really hard to get where we did,” Berehe said.

The team is only losing two seniors after this season. However, the team has a bright future as the underclassmen continue to improve and the rising seniors show their leadership, all in hopes of advancing further into the post-season competitions.

With the improvement shown this season, AHS varsity gymnastics shows great promise for next year, with hopes of a new coach and an even better season.