Area gymnasts among the elite
By Rob Borders – Asst. Sports Editor

The goal for any serious athlete is to reach the pinnacle of his or her sport.

That holds especially true for two gymnasts at DeVeau’s School of Gymnastics in Fishers. One gymnast is already qualified for the upcoming Visa United States Championships and the other will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Championships July 22-23 in Virginia Beach, Va.

Sam Peszek, 13, of McCordsville, will compete as a junior elite gymnast in the Visa U.S. Championships Aug. 10-13 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The other junior elite, 14-year-old Elizabeth McNabb also of McCordsville, needs a Top-14 finish in the all-around in the U.S. Classics meet in Virginia to qualify for the U.S. Championships.

“I think she will have a good chance,” coach Tom Strange said of McNabb’s chances to join Peszek. “This will be her third elite meet. If she hits, she will have an excellent chance to be in the top 14.”

Peszek will also compete in the U.S. Classic, but since she has already qualified, it will act as a tune-up for the U.S. Championships.

“It will be a prep meet for her,” Strange said. “She will potentially have a new bar routine that will feature a new skills combination. That will be determined by how her training goes in the next week and a half. 

This will be Peszek’s second U.S. Championships. Last year, she placed eighth in the all-around in the meet in Nashville, Tenn.

“It was really cool,” Peszek said of her experience last year. “I went eight-for-eight on my routines. I placed third on vault and eighth in the all-around.

That performance was good enough to land her on the junior national team, which qualified her for select International events.

“Last year she was selected to be in the U.S. vs. Canada and U.S. vs. Japan (meets),” Strange said. “Against Canada, she was the second highest score in vault and placed fifth in the all-around.”

Peszek said a hyper-extended knee kept her from competing against Japan.

A top-16 finish in the all-around competition at the U.S. Championships will again qualify her for the select team, opening up the possibility for more International events.

“I really like the International (level),” Peszek said. “You don’t know what to expect (from the competition) because our coaches don’t really know their coaches, so you have no way of knowing what is going to happen.”

Peszek said her favorite event is the floor exercise, in which her first tumbling pass is a piked full twisting double back.

McNabb Seeks Top-14 Finish

McNabb will join Peszek at the U.S. Classic meet in Virginia but there is more at stake.

A Top-14 finish in the all-around will put her alongside Peszek in the U.S. Championships.

McNabb feels about as prepared as she can get for the meet. “We have added hours of training,” said McNabb, a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Hamilton Southeastern Junior High School. “We have added an extra hour a day training and we are adding extra skills to all my routines. I have been training really hard for this. I feel that if I go out and hit my routines, I will be fine.”

McNabb qualified for U.S. Classics, so her new routines have worked for her.

“I am more confident now, and I feel ready,” she said.