Senior Gianna Schulte performs her beam routine. “I am so happy with our performance at this meet,” Schulte said. “We all came together to celebrate each other and our accomplishments.”

The Oswego co-op gymnastics team competed against Valley co-op team for Senior Night on Monday, winning after competing in all four events.

The girls began their meet with their Senior Night celebrations, with the coaches introducing all eleven seniors from both schools, and sharing memories from their time on the team.

Senior Gianna Schulte said that she felt emotional remembering her 13-year-long career and that she is grateful for all her teammates’ love.

“I’m sad this is the seniors’ final home meet, but I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made,” Schulte said. “This team is so special to me.” 

The team had a rough start, with some making mistakes like not sticking their routine during the vault event. 

Senior Sophie Perez said that although the team got off on the wrong foot, the energy of the room kept everyone motivated.

“I was last on vault tonight, so I had to watch everyone before me,” Perez said. “It was very exciting for me to land both of them, everyone was so happy and energized.”

As the night went on, the team executed more adventurous routines on events like bar and floor.

These events were executed with technical precision and rhythmic understanding, and Schulte said that the attention to detail is what pushed Oswego over the opposing team.

“There are a lot of mental challenges in gymnastics, and I think that we really tested our limits tonight,” Schulte said. “It just goes to show that in a sport like this, the higher the risk, the higher the reward.”

Oswego senior Enya Hrizak performed her floor routine to a medley of Beyonce songs, which quickly became a crowd favorite.

Hrizak said that she has gone through a lot to get to where she is in the season, but she is glad to be back doing what she loves most.

“The start of the season was rough for me, I had to take a week off because of injury,” Hrizak said. “Now that I’m back, I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do.”

Freshman Franny Valenti said the practice and the effort everyone put in ensured that those risks would pay off.

“We put in a lot of work, and every girl has their event that they shine in,” Valenti said. “I think that everyone who competed, everyone who put in the work, shined tonight.”

At the end of the meet, the Oswego team came away with a win, pulling away from Valley co-op after improving throughout the night.

Sophomore Addison Murray said that wins like these inspire her and her teammates to work harder and hold each other accountable.

“We love winning, and we love knowing that we are good at what we do,” Murray said. “But we can’t stay in these winning moments, we have to keep going.”

Head coach Amanda Zeki said that while she is proud of the seniors’ accomplishments, and their absence from the team will make an impact, she is anticipating the future talents of the team.

“We have a lot of underclassmen who I think have a lot of talent and will be ready to continue what the class of 2023 has started,” Zeki said. “We’re excited to work during the off-season and to see what we can do in the future.”

Kelsey Gara is a staff editor for Oswego East’s online news magazine the Howl