Leyden junior Erlyn Carrera got a late start in gymnastics and didn’t jump into the sport until the fifth grade.
However, that hasn’t slowed down her progress. She finished this season as the Eagles’ top gymnast, taking 12th place in all-around Feb. 5 at the Geneva Regional with a score of 27.35. While Carrera didn’t earn an automatic berth to sectionals, she’s come a long way from where she started.
“I did cheer in third grade, but when I tried gymnastics in fifth grade I liked it way more,” Carrera said. “At first I was pretty shaky because I didn’t know much. There would be really good girls at the meets I went to and it was frustrating, but I just kept with it and started catching on.”
Carrera started taking the sport seriously when she was a freshman at Leyden. She said she and all the other freshmen were put on the JV1 team.
By sophomore year she moved up to varsity and this season she is the team’s leader and top gymnast. Much of that has to do with her attitude and work ethic.
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“She’s always the first one in the gym and the first one trying something different, trying to get better,” Leyden head coach Jen Thomas said. “It’s nice because once she gets started it’s very contagious and she ignites her teammates.”
Carrera also has the ability to pick up new tricks with relative ease.
“Sometimes the girls’ homework will be to just watch some videos on YouTube,” Thomas said. “Some skills she can pick up very quickly just by watching and others she picks up because she has the perseverance to do so. She’s becoming a very strong technical gymnast.”
One of the new skills Carrera added this season was a front handspring layout in floor exercise. It was tough to add because she needed both mental toughness and physical improvement.
“The thing that makes it hard is the block off your shoulders when you go to do the front layout,” Carrera. “It was about being more aggressive toward the floor and staying tight. It’s very mental, but at the same time you have to give all the hard work to pull it off.”
At regionals, Carrera said her best event performance was bars, where she finished 18th with a 5.825. Her best place came in floor, where she took 13th with a 7.65. She also took 19th in both beam (5.975) and vault (7.9).
As a team, Leyden came in fourth place with 106.325, while Geneva won the regional with 146.425.
Carrera will take a couple weeks off before getting back on the mats in preparation for next season.
“I think she has a strong chance of qualifying [for state] next year but her goal is just to do her best and get new skills,” Thomas said. “She’s very proud of where she’s come from.”
Rob Valentin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press