Sophomore all-around gymnast Molly Quirk has been a consistent leader for the Gymcats as she burst on to the scene during her freshman year. Along with Aubree Cristello, Quirk has regularly been atop the leader boards for the team.
“”Both of them are doing great,”” said head coach Bill Ryden. “”Molly was all-around last week. They both do the majority of the scoring for the team. When they are healthy, they do great.””
The Arizona Daily Wildcat caught up with Quirk after practice yesterday to talk about the season so far and what Gymcats fans can expect from the relatively young roster.
Daily Wildcat: What are your thoughts on the team so far?
Molly Quirk: I think we have a really good team. Every day in practice, we look awesome. The first few meets are tough; the coaches are still trying to figure out lineups, and everyone is getting their nerves out.
With injuries piling up, does that add any pressure on you to step up?
It puts pressure on the entire team. Nobody wants to see the team do badly, so everyone is going to try that much harder to make sure they can fill in for someone or do what they need to do to help the team.
The team is a lot different from last year. How has it changed for you?
We have a lot more people in the gym. That’s probably the first thing. We do have a couple injuries right now, but for the most part everybody is healthy. There is actually a lot of competition in the gym just to try and get a spot in the lineup, and I think that helps the team a lot.
How does the competition in practice help?
I think it helps a lot. I mean, everyone wants to be out there on the floor competing. That’s what we have been working on since fall is to try and get a spot in the lineup. Last year, there wasn’t any of that because so many people were hurt. This year, if you see one of your teammates do good, it just motivates you to do better so you can get a spot also.
What are your feelings on new assistant coach Randi Acosta?
I think Randi (Acosta) is awesome. She expects perfection, and I think that’s really going to help our team. I mean, as the season progresses and the beam team gets more comfortable, I think everyone is going to see that our beam team is really strong, and I think that is because of her.
You have ASU this week. Is it as big a deal for you guys as it is for the rest of the campus to beat ASU?
Well, gymnastics is kind of weird because your ranking isn’t based on wins and losses, so we want to get a high score for ourselves, but it’s always fun to beat ASU because we know that they want to beat us.
