Freshman makes FHS Gymnastics History

Freshman makes FHS Gymnastics History

Kaleigh Dooney

Fifteen-year-old Kate Rudolph makes Franklin High School gymnastics history by becoming the first freshman to qualify for the individual league meet. The invitation came after Kate had a stellar regular season. The meet was held on Feb. 18  at Tewksbury High School.

Kate began gymnastics when she was just 18 months old and started competitive gymnastics when she was nine years old. Going into leagues, she was most apprehensive to compete on the balance beam apparatus because she believes it is her weakest event and she wanted to make her team proud.

Contrary to what she initially believed, Kate scored an 8.25 on beam and ranked thirty-third overall out of the forty-one girls. She was enthusiastic to compete on her favorite event, floor, because she loves tumbling. She ended up scoring an 8.775 on floor and ranked eighteenth out of the forty-three girls competing.

Kate considers her team her biggest supporters and appreciated how they drove out to watch her compete. She loved how the environment was competitive, but everyone was cheering each other on, even if they were on different teams. She found the competition fun, but there were times that she had to be serious in order to put down her best routines.

Kate said that she hopes to complete all four years of high school gymnastics and possibly do Division Three college gymnastics in the future.