Last year’s postseason held so much promise for Adi Minor.
Then a freshman at Columbus East, Minor was one of the top gymnasts in the state in all four events and the all-around. But on the final tumbling pass of her final event in the final meet of the regular season, she broke her leg.
“When I landed, I felt it snap,” Minor said. “I felt it crack, and I was like, ‘Oh, no. That was not good.’”
That left the Olympians without one of their top two gymnasts for the postseason. They made it to the regional as a team but finished fourth, one spot away from qualifying for state.
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Meanwhile, Minor was in a cast for about two months. She had been having trouble with stress fractures in her shins prior to the injury, so Dr. Nate Frasier worked out the scar tissue in her shins. Minor also did strengthening, standing on a balance ball, jumping and lunges to rehab the leg.
“I just had to strengthen my ankles again, and after that, everything kind of came together,” Minor said.
Minor began tumbling again in July and doing full routines in September.
“It was a pretty quick comeback,” Minor said. “I don’t have any pain anymore.”
East coach Nancy Kirshman eased Minor back into her routines in an effort to not aggravate the injury.
“It’s good to see Adi back healthy,” Kirhsman said. “Timing is not exactly where we want it to be on a few things, but she’s totally back doing everything that she did. It’s just fine-tuning a little bit and getting everything back in order.”
Minor’s best event is the vault, though she isn’t back yet to doing as big of a vault as she did last year. Her rhythm has come back on the other three events, however.
“She’s a tremendous athlete,” Kirshman said. “She’s a very good gymnast. She’s very coachable and listens well. She still has many things she can do beyond what we’re doing now.”
Although the sophomore’s winning all-around scores of 37.15 and 36.65 in the Olympians’ first two meets this season are a little below the 38 mark she reached last year, Minor is hopeful she can return to where she was. She would like to break Nikki Howe’s school all-around record of 38.45 and place in the top three in the all-around at state.
“I would really like the team to go this year also,” said Minor, who will lead East into tonight’s meet against crosstown rival Columbus North.
Kirshman thinks Minor would have medaled on the vault and possibly in the all-around at last year’s state meet if she had remained healthy.
“She got robbed last year, breaking that bone in her leg,” Kirshman said. “She definitely would have had a very good chance of being on the podium at state in all four events, and hopefully that’s where she’s going this year. She truly should have a chance at state titles. She’s that good a gymnast in all four events.”
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What: Columbus East vs. Columbus North gymnastics
When: 6:30 p.m. today
Where: Columbus East High School
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