Deerfield’s Orly Hirsch remembers sitting at the 2017 girls gymnastics state tournament wondering what could have been.
Then a junior, Hirsch had entered that year’s sectional with a solid chance to qualify for state on floor exercise and in beam, only to struggle at the Stevenson Sectional.
“It was sitting there thinking, ‘I have better routines than some of these girls,'” said Hirsch, who lives in Deerfield. “That lit a fire inside of me, and during (heavy) offseason training, I kept it in the back my mind. I knew I had to reach the ultimate goal by getting to state.”
Hirsch achieved that goal on Friday when she competed at state, tying for 14th on floor (9.275) and tying for 16th on beam (9.175).
“She did as well as I could have asked her to do,” Deerfield coach Kimmy Powers said.
Hirsch said she spent the weekend thinking back to the previous year.
“I kept picturing myself sitting there last year and realizing the amount of hard work I had to put in,” she said. “(This year) I was standing out there on the floor (ready to compete) and just looking around in shock because I had set the goal and done it.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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