By Mike Zummo
It was October, less than a month before practice was due to start, that Miah Frisbie heard there may not be a gymnastics season at Wallkill High School.
“When I found out, I cried,” Frisbie said. “It was senior year and the last time I was going to do gymnastics in my life.”
Frisbie was the only senior on Wallkill’s gymnastics team, and with no plans to continue the sport in college, was in danger of losing her last year in the sport.
And it would have left her without a winter sport.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Frisbie said. “I had only done gymnastics in the winter and my team has a lot of success. I could have done a winter sport, but my heart wasn’t in another sport like it was gymnastics.”
That’s around the time Lauren Cruz saw a Facebook post saying Wallkill High School was looking for a coach. Cruz, who had coached club gymnastics for about 20 years before leaving it to focus on her own business, had previously coached Miah Frisbie and her older sister.
She was familiar with Wallkill’s gymnastics program as her best friend competed for Wallkill 20 years ago. Cruz graduated from Valley Central and always wished the Vikings had a gymnastics program.
Cruz was approved by the Wallkill Central School District Board of Education on Nov. 21 and by the time she got the proper certifications, the Panthers hit the gym the second week of December.
The Panthers last won a Section 9 championship in 2016 and Frisbie said they hadn’t won a lot since then.
This year, they’re 5-0 and are favored to win the Section 9 championship meet, scheduled for Feb. 19 at Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park.
“It’s been really good,” Frisbie said. “Lauren has come in here and helped us a lot. She has helped us gain skills. She always lifts us up and I think we owe a lot of our winning to her.”
The Panthers finished their successful regular season on Monday, Feb. 3, at Ostrander Elementary School with a 160.4-150.95 win over Roosevelt High School. It was also Senior Night, and a chance to honor Frisbie, the team’s only senior.
“I was really sad because it was the last time I’d be competing in my home gym,” Frisbie said. “Excited because this ending starts a new chapter of my life.”
It was also Wallkill’s first win over the Presidents since 2016.
Frisbie won the all-around competition with 33.5 points. She also won on the floor with a 9.25 and the beam with an 8.25. Gabby Castro won on the vault with an 8.45 and Rachel Vassell won on the uneven bars with a 7.95.
In six years, the Panthers’ program has seen a lot of change.
“I started off not knowing a lot of the girls,” Frisbie said. “Even the new girls, we’ve always had this chemistry that helps us win. We have really good chemistry and I believe that has helped us get an undefeated season this year.”
Now, there is one more goal this season, and that was Monday’s sectional championship meet, the results of which were not available at press time.
Cruz said as a team, Wallkill was favored to win.
“However, we’re looking at qualifying for states,” she said. “Some of the girls have been upping their difficulty and routines. We’re excited to have girls qualify for states and work in more difficult moves they’ve been working on.”