The week leading up to the final high school gymnastics tournament was an emotional one for the Olathe North team.
“The last time we clean up the gym, the last time we practice on a Monday, the last time we do a team dinner, you know, all the way leading up to, you know, the last time I salute,” Olathe North gymnastics coach Amanda Harrington said.
The “lasts” weren’t just for the season — they were for the sport itself, at least as a high school offering in Kansas.
The Oct. 20 meet at Olathe East, was the end of 52 years of high school gymnastics in Kansas.
Last spring, the Sunflower League — a KSHSAA-sanctioned league of 14 schools in northeast Kansas — announced it would be ending its gymnastics program after years of dwindling participation. Only two schools outside the league, Newton and Emporia, still had teams. So, in May, KSHSAA decided to sunset the sport statewide.
It wasn’t just the last meet for the team — it was an opportunity to make history. No school had ever won five consecutive state titles. Two other teams had also won four in a row in the 1970s.
In the end, Olathe North did the unprecedented in state history and won. Shawnee Mission East snagged the second place title, and Olathe South secured the third place finish.
Harrington said she’s rewatched footage and looked at photos from the event every day since.
“It’s truly just reliving one of the best days of my life every single day,” she said. “Like it’s really cool.”
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The end of high school gymnastics in Kansas
Harrington said the Sunflower League’s announcement came as no surprise.
“Every year you kind of wonder if gymnastics is going to get cut,” she said. “It’s kind of been a talk for probably the past 10 years.”
This year, only 62 high school students participated in gymnastics across Kansas.
Harrington doesn’t think the decline reflects a lack of interest — if anything, she said, it’s the opposite. Unlike other sports, private club gymnastics continues through the high school season, so serious competitors often stick with their clubs instead.
“Our high school gymnasts are kids who either got burnt out, injured, or just didn’t want to spend 20 hours (a week) in the gym anymore, and kind of wanted to be a normal high school kid and get a normal experience,” Harrington said.
Harrington and the rest of the team were disappointed by the news of the sport’s ending, but decided to still give it their all in the final season.
“There’s nothing we can do about it, but we’re going to go out and we’re going to make this the best year yet,” Harrington said she told her team.
Harrington said she’s encouraging the non-senior gymnasts to continue their involvement in other high school extracurriculars.
“I’m interested to see what all of them do,” she said. “I think all of them will find a new niche.”
