Trojans sophomore sammie boster, dac ALL-AROUND CHAMPION, ALSO WINS BALANCE beam and floor exercise

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

​Some athletes bring such a loud presence to their fields of competition that they make you stop what you’re doing and watch.
For those on the local high school gymnastics scene, Sammie Boster has become that sort of an entertainer.
Some of the top gymnasts in the region not only stopped what they were doing when Sammie took the spotlight to perform her floor exercise routine, they cheered her through it. Some of Crown Point’s gymnasts who know her from her club days were among her biggest supporters Saturday at the DAC Gymnastics Championships at Crown Point.
Boster, whose name rhymes with foster and on this day had it pronounced boaster, didn’t disappoint. She was the all-around DAC champion (38.225), won the DAC title in her best event, the balance beam (9.75) and was conference champion in the floor (9.575) as well
In a sport that is all about balance, Boster has that covered in more than the obvious physical ways. In a sport that subjects athletes to so much injury risk, a gymnast must be tough. Yet, she can’t come across as tough. She must mask it with a refined, almost gentle, presence. Boster has that balancing act down pat too.
Some days her name is pronounced booster, like the chair babies sit in at the dinner table. Saturday’s name mispronunciation variety was particularly unfortunate because Sammie lets her performances speak for themselves and is not at all the boastful type. Her performance spoke especially loudly at the DAC championship, one year after she finished sixth at the same meet.
“I’ve never won that many things at a postseason meet before and there is definitely some good competition here,” Boster said. “I was proud of myself for winning all-around because there are some really good girls out here. The team helped a lot too. We got our highest team all-around score.”
Boster’s weakest event always has been bars, but she even made it to the podium with a fourth-place finish after scoring a 9.325.
“Bars definitely still need some work, but they’re progressing,” Boster said.
She also took second in the vault (9.575).
It’s a good sign when a gymnast is the last to realize just how special her performance was in an event, which was the case for Boster on her way to the DAC floor title.
“I knew it was definitely a good routine,” she said. “I knew I made some mistakes, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. I was surprised when I saw my score.”
Boster’s all-around score of 38.225 gave her a comfortable margin of victory. Crown Point’s Madelyn Martell was second with a 37.725 total.
Chesterton coach Christy Dzierba continues to try to help Boster tidy up all four events.
“She’s doing great,” Dzierba said. “There were a couple of little mistakes that we saw today that we’re going to work on this week for sectionals, clean stuff up, and she’ll be good to go.”
Winning the all-around plus two events in the DAC meet has significant meaning considering how loaded the conference consistently is. In 52 years of state gymnastics championships, a current DAC school has won 25 times. Valparaiso has 14 titles, Chesterton 6, Crown Point 2, Merrillville 2 and Portage 1.
The all-around champion has been from a current DAC school in 17 of those years.
Bolstered in the past two meets by Sophia Mussatto’s return from a prolonged injury, Chesterton finished sixth in the team standings with a season-high 97.725 points, ahead of Michigan City (96.00) and LaPorte. (91.7500). Valparaiso (111.550) edged Crown Point (110.250) for the team title.