By Angela Watts
Content Editor
The start of Thursday’s six-team gymnastics meet at Langley was still nearly 30 minutes away, but the gymnasts were already hard at work, flying around in various directions as they warmed up on all four events.
At the floor exercise, where girls took turns working on their tumbling passes, one Herndon gymnast struggled with her confidence. She had twice successfully completed a roundoff-back handspring-back handspring-back tuck combination, but the anxiety was still visible on her face. When the other girls saw it, the words of encouragement came in a hurry.
“Come on!” “You can do it!” “Believe in yourself!”
Only, the sentiments weren’t just coming from her own teammates. At least, not her official ones.
Members of Chantilly’s team were equally vocal in their support. But perhaps that is to be expected. Despite being rivals, Herndon and Chantilly have practiced together twice a week for the past four years. They share gym time, equipment and even coaches.
That’s right.
Herndon’s head coach, Keith Naquin, is also Chantilly’s assistant. His wife, Maureen, is the Chargers’ head coach and the Hornets’ assistant. And this scenario is not unique to this husband-and-wife duo. Michael Cooper, who originally started at just Oakton, is now also the head coach at Fairfax, Falls Church and W.T. Woodson — two of which were competing at Langley Thursday night.
“This kind of thing is happening at a quite a few schools in the Northern Region,” Keith Naquin said. “Part of it is difficulty finding knowledgeable coaches because gymnastics is such a unique sport. And the ones that are knowledgeable or are trained to do gymnastics work at the club level and, frankly, we don’t have enough money to entice them to come to the high schools. They’re paid better at the club level. And there are some that try to do both, but then with the hours it’s hard to make it all work.
“But also, practicing together saves a lot of equipment time set-up. It’s not like basketball where you just roll out a ball and go. We’ve got mats and bars and other things … it’s really a hassle setting all that stuff up. So in the 15-minute drive it takes us to get from Herndon to Chantilly, where they have a separate gym and all of this is already set up, we’d still be setting up our own gym.”
Herndon sensational sophomore Maria Hayden said she finds even more advantages to the unusual arrangement.
“I think it’s good because you get to see your competition, and that motivates you to work harder and do better,” said Hayden, the defending state champion on the bars. “But it’s not like we’re enemies at all. We all hang out together and we all get along. Plus, it’s good to get two coaches’ opinions on everything.
“The only downside is that we’re competing against Chantilly at every single meet — and they’re our biggest competition — so we don’t get a break.”
Herndon didn’t need one on Thursday.
The Hornets totaled 142.825 points to win the six-team meet at Langley on the strength of Hayden, who earned at least a share of first place in three events (bars, floor, vault) and also captured the all-around title, and Lauren Sullivan, who tied for first on the beam and placed third on the bars. This came less than a week after Herndon finished second to Chantilly at the 16-team, South Lakes Invitational by a slim, 0.175 margin.
The Chargers, led by junior Elly Taura, placed second Thursday with 139.975 points while the host Saxons, led by junior Emily Bullen and senior Morgan Danner, finished third with 137.30. W.T. Woodson (123.60), South Lakes (103.675) and Falls Church (90.95 with only three competitors) rounded out the group.
Cooper, who was coaching both the Cavaliers and the Jaguars with the help of his assistants, wore a Falls Church shirt on Thursday night. But like the athletes, his support went in many different directions.
“I hadn’t worn a Falls Church one yet so I decided to tonight,” Cooper said, laughing. “But when the bus pulled up to pick us up at Woodson it was like, ‘Wait a minute!’ But they get used to it.”
INDIVIDUAL EVENTS
Vault
1. Maria Hayden, Herndon, and Elly Taura, Chantilly, 9.4; 2. Emily Bullen, Langley, 9.3; 3. Morgan Danner, Langley, and Diane Lisky, W.T. Woodson, 9.0.
Bars
1. Maria Hayden, Herndon, 9.875; 2. Elly Taura, Chantilly, 9.15; 3. Lauren Sullivan, Herndon, 9.025.
Beam
1. Emily Bullen, Langley, and Lauren Sullivan, Herndon, 9.375; 2. Maria Hayden, Herndon, 9.3; 3. Morgan Danner, Langley, 9.15.
Floor
1. Maria Hayden, Herndon, 9.8; 2. Morgan Danner, Langley, 9.4; 3. Emily Bullen, Langley, 9.3.
All-Around
1. Maria Hayden, Herndon, 38.375; 2. Elly Taura, Chantilly, 36.95; 3. Emily Bullen, Langley, 36.85.
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