GSL gymnast, wrestler look to return to state stage: Greeley setting sights past sections

If not for a modest misstep in her floor routine last year during the section 2AA meet — quite literally, as her momentum during a floor routine forced an extra step on her landing — Marissa Greeley would’ve made it back to the Minnesota State High School League state meet for the second time. She earned a trip to the meet her freshman year, but missed it by a meager .05 points last year as a sophomore.
Now, as a junior at Glencoe-Silver Lake, and with sections approaching, Greeley is steadfast in her pursuit of state — a meet established to be the pinnacle for the state’s best high school athletes.
But before state, Greeley has to get through the section meet, which is the same event where a small foible cascaded into a crushed goal.
Although Greeley conceded that she felt as if she let her team down, letting a defeat impede on her passion wasn’t in the cards. And her coach was adamantly opposed to the idea that anybody was let down two seasons ago.
“We are proud of her. That girl is one of the hardest workers in our gym,” Head Coach Kim Hahn said when asked if she was let down by Greeley’s performance.
For an athlete who was practicing gymnastics the second she could walk, getting back to the gym was inevitable. And now she’s had an entire year of improvement while meticulously combing through the errs of the 2018 section meet, working to improve upon the areas where she struggled.
“If I took one less step on my floor routine, I would’ve made it (to state),” Greeley said. “So this year I’ve been working on perfecting my routine so that doesn’t happen again.”

(For the complete story, see the Feb. 12 print edition of The Chronicle.)