Young Warrior gymnasts learning

In 2014 Fallbrook High School placed fifth as a team at the CIF gymnastics meet and second at the Avocado League meet while Sarah Engebretson won the compulsory all-around both at the league meet and at the CIF meet and also matched the CIF San Diego Section's all-time top compulsory score at the Mount Carmel Invitational. This year Engebretson joins Krystal Schmid as Fallbrook's co-coach and is helping to rebuild the team.

"It will be pretty cool to see how much we improve throughout the season," Engebretson said. Six varsity gymnasts are scored at a meet, and at least one of those must perform an optional routine. The Warriors opened their season March 18 with a loss at Poway; the varsity team scored 158.85 points and Fallbrook's junior varsity had a score of 109.1 points.

Fallbrook's only home meet of 2015 took place March 25 against La Costa Canyon. The Mavericks' varsity defeated the Warriors by a 215.0-159.65 margin while the LCC junior varsity returned home with a 134.8-110.85 victory.

"I feel like they've definitely improved since the first meet, so I hope they keep going in that upward motion," Schmid said.

"I wasn't worried. LCC is a very good school," Engebretson said of Fallbrook's loss.

"Winning is important to the girls, but I just want them to have a good experience and be proud of the way they competed," Engebretson said. "I'm proud of them because I know they did the best that they could."

Fallbrook did not have enough varsity gymnasts for a full team score from 2010 to 2013, which included Engebretson's first three years with the Warriors.

This year's team includes ten varsity members, eight of whom participated in the meet against La Costa Canyon. "We have a full team," Engebretson said. "That's exciting."

Shar Larsen and Schmid co-coached the Warriors in 2014. Larsen is also Fallbrook's athletic secretary. "She pops in every now and then to help out still," Schmid said.

At the May 2, 2014, Mount Carmel Invitational the Warriors placed second as a team while having the highest floor team score. Engebretson's compulsory all-around score of 39.0 points set a meet record and tied the CIF San Diego Section record for any compulsory score; Engebretson also won the vault, bars, and floor at the Mount Carmel Invitational.

At the Avocado League meet May 20 Engebretson not only posted a winning all-around score of 38.850 points but won all four events. Immediately behind her 9.7 score for the floor exercise was the 9.350 score of Justina DiBacco, who was fifth in the all-around. Mikala Tidd was sixth in the compulsory all-around at the league meet, Madylin Miller was ninth, and Alayna Pettigrew placed 15th. In the optional all-around at the league meet Sasha Cusimano was sixth, Skyler Sprint placed 11th, and Julie Goldstein was 13th. DiBacco, Miller, and Pettigrew were also seniors in 2014. Cusimano and Goldstein are both Oasis High School sophomores this year, but neither is competing with the Warriors.

Engebretson had a winning all-around score of 38.875 points at the CIF meet May 23 and a winning bars score of 9.750 points while placing second on the floor and fourth in the beam and tying for sixth on the vault.

"It was very bittersweet ending my senior year that way," Engebretson said.

Engebretson would not be closing out her high school career with the CIF all-around championship. "Krystal asked me if I wanted to coach the beginning of my senior year, so I knew pretty much the whole season I was going to come back and coach," Engebretson said.

"I'm excited that she decided to coach with me," Schmid said.

"I really like it. It's very different," Engebretson said.

Engebretson explained that she is now in charge of girls who had been her teammates last year, although she primarily coaches Fallbrook's junior varsity gymnasts. "I think JV looks pretty good in comparison to the past years," she said.

"We've got a team pretty much comprised of freshmen," Schmid said.

Some of those girls are returning to gymnastics after an absence from club competition while others are adjusting from club formats to interscholastic activity. "They're just getting used to it," Schmid said.

The freshmen include Engebretson's sister, although Olivia Engebretson is on the varsity and is competing at the optional level this year. She was second among the two teams' varsity gymnasts at the home meet against La Costa Canyon with 28.7 all-around points; she also placed third on the vault with 7.9 points and third on the bars with 6.3 points. Insufficient competitors resulted in positions not being given for the beam and floor events, but Engebretson scored 7.3 points on the beam and 7.2 points on the floor.

Olivia Engebretson's availability for the optional routine has allowed Sprint to compete as a compulsory gymnast. Her all-around score of 36.05 points March 25 placed third. Three all-around scores of at least 35 points qualify a compulsory gymnast for the CIF meet, as do three scores of at least 9.0 in an event. Sprint was third on the vault with 9.25 points, fourth on the floor with 9.05 points, fourth on the beam with 9.0 points, and fifth on the bars with 8.75 points. Tidd was seventh among the March 25 compulsory gymnasts with an all-around score of 34.2 points.

In the JV competition March 25, Rosemary Chavez had 31.85 all-around points to place second, and her 8.2 points on the vault gave her second place in that event.

See Gallery (10)