During the 2017-18 school year, current sophomore Molly Stack made school history as the first De Soto High School gymnast to make it to the State gymnastics competition. This year, Stack will be representing De Soto gymnastics again, but this time with four other teammates by her side.

Along with Stack, the team roster also includes freshman Rebekah Doyel, sophomore Annie Winter, and juniors Hayley Ritter and Jordan Aman.

Although the team competes as De Soto, the gymnasts practice in conjunction with Shawnee Mission Northwest.

“This is year two that we are working under a cooperative agreement with Shawnee Mission Northwest,” athletic director Ryan Johnson said. “They go to Shawnee Mission Northwest for practices, and then when it comes to meets they compete as De Soto kids.”

According to Stack, the organization of the team isn’t so different from last year.

“The Shawnee Mission Northwest and De Soto teams practice all as one, and the only difference [compared to last year] is wearing a different team leotard than last year,” Stack said.

As for the competition, it is generally the same as well. There are many different schools the team will compete against, although none of the schools in the new United Kansas Conference are included in the competition.

“It is all of the Shawnee Mission schools that have one [a gymnastics team], and some Olathe schools and Lawrence schools.”

In terms of the team’s skills as well as the competitions, Stack says that it’s very similar from last year as well.

“The competition this year is about even [in terms of ranking] as well. We have girls with levels everywhere, as do the rest of the teams we compete against,” Stack said.

The largest difference this year is that Stack now has gymnasts competing with her, which she finds very exciting.

“I’m so excited to have more girls on the team to stand with me and compete for our school and just having them with me,” Stack said.

DHS’ gymnastics team also received its own new uniforms for competitions, where last year Stack only wore a De Soto leotard at the State competition.

“Last year, we just had Molly [Stack], and she wore whatever Shawnee Mission Northwest had for her. This year, they have leotards that say “Wildcats” on them to wear for competition,” Johnson said.

The Wildcat’s first meet is Wednesday, Sept 5. at Shawnee Mission Northwest.