Chesterton sophomore Sammie Boster repeats as regional balance beam champion, makes it to state in all events, and commits to week of working on repairing her Achilles heel: bars

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

As prestigious as winning an individual event in the state gymnastics meet in Muncie next Saturday would be, Chesterton sophomore Sammie Boster is not limiting herself to that as her chief goal.
The Beam Queen revealed as much with the second word she uttered during an interview when her regional day in a hot Portage gym was done Saturday.
What will be the focus of this week’s practice, Sammie?
“Definitely bars because I fell two times,” she said without hesitation. “So, a lot of work there that needs to be done.”
Her coach Christy Dzierba gave the same response.
“Bars,” Dzierba said. “Bars.”
Not that Boster won’t do maintenance on her balance beam routine after defending her regional title in the event, but the bars were at the forefront of her and her coach’s mind after the regional awards concluded. Neither one is in denial about the reality that if Boster is going to have a shot at winning the all-around title, she will need to do better than she did the past two weeks to have a shot, and not a little better, a lot.
The top six finishers in the all-around qualified to advance. Boster placed fourth.
She said the bars work will involve, “staying tight in everything and working on the small details that really make a big difference throughout the routine.”
She cited an example of a small detail she needs to improve: “Even keeping my elbows straight when I catch for my bail. That can make a big difference for my whole routine.”
Of falling twice, Dzierba said, “We’ve never done that before. That kind of worried us a little bit, stressed us out, but I told her when she got off, I said, ‘It’s over. There is nothing we can do. Next two events are coming up and those are our best events.’ And she hit them.”
Just as she had in the DAC meet, Boster won the beam. She also followed her sectional floor exercise title with a second place at the regional and placed fourth in the vault, an event she won at both the DAC and sectional meets, both at Crown Point.
“It was kind of a rough day,” Dzierba said. “Everyone kind of had a rough day today just because it’s regionals. It’s stressful.”
Boster wasn’t shocked that Saturday wasn’t her best day.
“Some of the days were a little bit rough,” she said of the practices leading into the regional. “I was a little bit tired this week, so I was a little bit nervous coming in here because I didn’t have the best practices all week.”
Boster, who competed at state while sick last year, is looking forward to returning to Ball State in better health and spirits. And she made it clear by what her focus will be all week in practice that she’s in it to win it, it being not just beam, but the all-around.
Boster’s falls on the bars cost her a full point since each is an automatic half-point deduction. It was the only event in which she did not make it to the podium. She was fourth in the vault.

Team results:
1. Valparaiso 113.600;
2. Crown Point 108.750;
3. Northwestern 108.050;
4. Lake Central 103.950;
5. Westfield 101.450;
6. West Lafayette 99.350.

The top 6 in each event:

Vault:
1. Megan Garibay (Valpo) 9.700;
2. Leah Fenner (CP) 9.600;
3. Mia Pace (Port) 9.500;
4. Sammie Boster (CHS) 9.475;
5. Madelyn Martell (CP )9.400;
6. Ava Moe (Valpo) 9.375.

Bars:
1. Moe 9.750;
2. Garibay 9.650;
3. Martel 9.625;
4. Taylor Schmitt (NW) 9.375;
5. Camryn Smith (Valpo) 9.100;
6. Megan Leavitt(Kokomo) 9.025.

Beam:
1. Boster - CHS 9.725;
2. Schmitt (NW) 9.700;
3. Martell 9.675;
4. Ione Skafish (Valpo) 9.600;
5.Garibay 9.425;
6. Moe 9.300.

Floor:
1. Garibay 9.625;
2. Boster 9.600;
3. Schmitt 9.525;
4. Paige Hein (WT) 9.350;
5. Coe Krischke (Valpo) 9.350;
6. Skafish 9.325;
6. Leah Fenner (CP) 9.325.

All-around:
1. Garibay 38.450;
2. Schmitt 37.775;
3. Moe 37.450;
4. Boster 37.075;
5. Skafish 37.025;
6. Martell 36.925.