Hello again Pioneer Fans! 

First things first… I would like to say that it is an honor to write this pioneer post as a part of the newly crowned MIC Championship team! What a way to kick off the start of our post season quest! But, to back things up a bit, I’d like to tell you about our week.

Coming off a high from senior night, the team came in with a mission in mind. We competed the best we have competed all year and we knew this was only the beginning. After the meet, Coach reminded us that we were not to let up. We have to keep pushing each and every day to improve upon what we had just done. During this time of year, it comes down to which team took less steps, had less falls, and had the best landings and finishes. That is exactly what we worked on this week. The coaches geared our workouts toward thinking about little things that separates the good teams from the great teams. If we wanted to end up on top, we knew we had to concentrate on these things. We had a solid week of practice focusing on our mind, heart, and eyes. This has been a little motto that has come about the past couple meets. When we compete with a strong mind, full heart, and have that look in our eyes, we do our best.

By the time Friday rolled around, we were more than ready to rock the house. We got to go into the competition gym and get mentally prepared for the meet and get in a few last minute things. We were all excited to have the opportunity to compete in Pioneer Hall for MIC’s. We left the gym feeling excited and ready to prove ourselves once again.

If you’ve ever been an athlete or have had the chance to be around one, you might have heard them mention having a “good feeling” before and on the day of the big event. Well, Saturday morning I woke up with a big smile on my face and a good feeling about the day ahead. Meeting up in the training room before the meet, many of the girls had a similar feeling as me. This is what it is all about. Having that feeling and letting it shine in your performance. We were calm, confident, and walked out to the warm up gym with our heads held high. We had a great warm up and were excited to get the meet started!

We started out on vault with an amazing performance. Our hearts were pumping and we were thrilled to start off on such a good note. Next we went to bars where we kept the ball rolling and really showcased our teamwork. After bars, we had reached our halfway point and we were on our bye rotation. Since there were five teams competing at this meet, one team sat out each rotation. During this time we went up to the ballet room and mentally prepared for our last two events. After a little rest, we went down and again showcased our teamwork on beam. Starting off with a fall, we knew we had to perform well the rest of the rotation. Each person who went up had the other person’s back and competed with fierce determination and confidence. This is what a team sport is all about. All fired up after beam, the floor team was ready to rock the house on our final rotation. We tumbled high, executed our leaps, and drew in the crowd as we tumbled our way to the end of our meet. After floor, we were all beaming with excitement. We weren’t sure if we had won, but we knew we had done our job. There isn’t a better feeling than that.

Walking out on that floor after the competition was a proud moment for each and every one of us Pioneers. To go along with our first place team award (for only the 2nd time in TWU history), we had several individual awards on each event. On vault, sophomore Marcella Fallon took the gold while freshman Kristin Edwards took the silver. On bars, sophomore Rashonda Cannie stood up as the MIC bar champion. On beam, freshman Brittany Johnson came away with a 2nd place finish and junior Kristie Costa placed 6th. On floor, freshman Kristin Edwards stood as MIC champion. For the all-around, sophomore Rashonda Cannie took 4th while freshman Brittany Johnson came away with the 1st place medal. Sophomore Rashonda Cannie was also awarded Conference Athlete of the Year, which is an award that is picked by all 5 of the MIC coaches. Great job Rashonda!! Along with all of our athletic achievements, we also had a handful of academic achievements. We pride ourselves in our academics just as much as we do our athletic ability so we were proud to have a good representation of TWU standing up this year! Way to go ladies…I’m so proud of all of you for all of your successes both in and out of the gym!

After all of that excitement, we had more to come! Both our assistant and head coach were named coaches of the year! We couldn’t have been more proud. We couldn’t have gotten to this point without all of their hard work and dedication. They do a lot of things for us not only in the gym, but behind the scenes as well. It was nice for them to get credit for all of the effort they put into making this program the best it can be for us. Congratulations Coaches…we love you and are proud to be a part of your team!

With all of that being said, just like last week, we know we can’t let up. We have our biggest competition left of the year and we have more preparing to do. Check back with us next week to hear about our upcoming week of practice! Again, thank you for all of your support. We couldn’t do it without all of you!

Dream. Desire. Vision. WE ARE ONE!!

Leslie Pladson
Senior