Girls gymnastics: Cary-Grove sophomore Riley makes it look easy
Cary-Grove sophomore Gabby Riley did not like how her gymnastics season started a season ago, but it could not have ended much better.
Riley led Prairie Ridge co-op to its fourth state title in six years last February while she personally captured the all-around and beam titles.
"The composure she had was unbelievable," Prairie Ridge co-op coach Lee Battaglia said. "And what people don't realize is she also took on Level 10 in club and Level 10 is a huge, huge thing."
While it was a tremendous debut for Riley, joining prestigious company with Jenny Covers (2009, 2011), Rachael Underwood (2015) and Nikki Baars (2017) as the fourth gymnast in the program to win an all-around title, she won't have an opportunity to duplicate it this year since the abbreviated girls high school gymnastics season will not have a state series.
Good thing she knows how to shrug off disappointment and move on. Not everyone can do it and make it look as easy as Riley does, but it's one of her many great attributes. That's saying something as her four routines speak for themselves.
"I like to shrug things off and not allow it to affect me," she said. "Last year for high school I didn't start off the season so well. I had a lot of falls but as the season went on and my routines got better my confidence built. Club really helps you for this. It's way more stressful doing it more for yourself; here I was able to relax more doing it with my high school."
For only a sophomore, Riley possesses a clearsighted sense of what she's looking to do and how to accomplish it. The evidence was there a season ago in Palatine.
"She does a really good job of mental preparation not just days before the meet, but days or a good week before meets," Battaglia said. "It's like in school when you study to prepare for a test and exercise the brain. She does it very well."
Riley has ambitions to become a college gymnast. Spending day after day for hours in the gym is a grind, but she loves it so much that even while away she'll peruse YouTube to catch some of the college highlights of Alabama, Florida, LSU and Stanford.
"I had to take a few months off during the summer and work out from home a while but it's good to be back at it four hours a day Monday through Friday," she said. "I would love to compete in college. We're getting videos taken now. Ever since I got onto the team I've been thinking how exciting college gymnastics would be."
With Riley and state floor champion Gracie Willis returning, along with a strong mix of returnees and a couple newcomers, there's little doubt that Prairie Ridge would've been fighting for another state trophy again this month in any other year. Now, trophies and championships are out of the equation, but high level gymnastics and fun with friends in the gym have slowly re-entered the picture.
"I'm hoping that our team hits all our events," Riley said. "Last year I learned how very different this is from club. It's more of a team and we did everything as a team. I'm hoping that everybody gets to participate and we all have fun together."