Suburban Life Athlete of the Week: Angela Stangarone, York, gymnastics, senior

Name: Angela Stangarone

School: York, senior

Sport: Gymnastics

Why she was selected: Stangarone won the all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise at the West Suburban Silver meet, leading York to its first conference championship since 1988.

Stangarone was selected the Athlete of the Week in an online vote. Here is her Q&A with Sports Editor Joshua Welge.

What did it mean to win conference for the first time in 36 years?

Stangarone: It was huge. We were really, really excited for that. We knew we would have some tough competition with Glenbard West. We all really supported each other, tried to stay relaxed and have fun. My coach, we have a whiteboard in the gym where she puts all the statistics with the last time York won conference, went to state (1988) and won a regional (2001). We knew we had a great opportunity, thought let’s go get it. That was our motivation.

What event were you most happy with personally at the meet?

Stangarone: I think my vault. I had much better form on my layouts. I had been doing drills the day before, working on better body position. I was able to make it happen at conference. And then I stuck the landing on bars.

What are your favorite events?

Stangarone: I would say vault and floor, but personally I love floor the most. I usually go last on floor. I get the whole team cheering for me. It really helps with my adrenalin.

What made you do high school gymnastics for the first time this year?

Stangarone: I was in club all the previous years. Over the summer, I had a wrist injury and club kept getting more difficult. I would have had to modify a lot of stuff with club. I didn’t have the energy for the heavy time commitment for club. I did high school diving and thought this is my chance. I always wanted to do high school gymnastics and it has been the most fun. I don’t have pain with the injury anymore and the coaches really get it. I knew a lot of the girls, so it’s been really great to be back with them.

How long have you done gymnastics?

Stangarone: I’ve done 11 or 12 years of gymnastics. My mom was a gymnast and she taught gymnastics. Every kid does the tumbling when they’re little and I kept going with it. I started in park district, ended up at Premier Gymnastics for six years. I loved the coaches and now I’m doing high school. It’s been a journey.

What are your thoughts about the rest of the season, sectionals and hopefully state?

Stangarone: We’re just going to keep grinding. We have already made history for York. We have had the best season in decades. We have a week and a half before sectionals to clean things up and adding bonus so we can start with the best possible score.