Recruit Files: Reese Drotar, California

Name: Reese Drotar
Club: Airborne Gymnastics Training Center
High School Graduation Year: 2022

NCAA Team: California
Commitment Announcement: Instagram
Social Handles: Twitter | Instagram (main) | Instagram (gymnastics)

Personal Bests 

Vault	Uneven Bars	Balance Beam	Floor Exercise
9.400	9.800	9.750	9.600

Videos 

Vault	Uneven Bars	Balance Beam	Floor Exercise
2018 NorCal State Meet	2020 Pacific Classic	2020 Brestyan’s Invitational	2020 Brestyan’s Invitational

About Reese

Drotar began competing as a level 10 in November 2018 at the California Grand Invitational, where she finished second on beam. In 2019 she finished fourth on bars at the NorCal state meet and fourth on floor at Region 1 regionals. She scored career highs on vault and bars in 2020.

What She Brings to California

Vault

• Skill: Yurchenko full
• Results: tied first place at the 2020 Pacific Classic (career high)
• Margin of Improvement: Drotar’s vault is quite good in the air, but she pikes down significantly on the landing.
• Impact on the Team: California’s vault lineup is getting stronger and stronger, and it will welcome a few excellent vaulters in the next few years. Drotar’s current vault will not challenge for a spot, but she has two more years to improve it.

Uneven Bars

• Skills: Maloney to bail to handstand, double layout dismount
• Results: first place at the 2020 Pacific Classic (career high)
• Margin of Improvement: Drotar has beautiful lines on bars. The main deduction comes from a leg separation on her Maloney.
• Impact on the Team: California is currently very strong on bars, but most of its bar workers will have graduated once Drotar gets to college. She will replace them nicely.

Balance Beam 

• Skills: BHS + LOSO, beat jump to straddle jump three quarters, side aerial to leap jump, straddle jump half on the side of the beam, side somi, full turn with the leg held at 180 degrees, double twist dismount
• Results: third place at the 2020 Brestyan’s Invitational
• Margin of Improvement: Drotar has elegant lines on beam. The main area of deduction is her dismount, where she crosses her legs and struggles to stick the landing.
• Impact on the Team: Drotar’s recent results on beam have been a bit shaky. If she can learn to keep her nerves at bay, she should be a strong contributor here.

Floor Exercise

• Skills: Memmel, double pike, double tuck, 1.5 twist to front tuck
• Results: fourth place at the 2019 Region 1 championships
• Margin of Improvement: Drotar’s routine is not the most difficult, but it is polished. Two more years of club gymnastics will improve her execution even more. Her toe point is gorgeous.
• Impact on the Team: Floor is not necessarily Drotar’s best apparatus, but she could challenge for a lineup spot.

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Article by Talitha Ilacqua

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