For a long time, Elizabeth Gantner felt she didn’t have complete mastery of her gymnastics. Being the smallest athlete in her gym, she struggled on both bars and the power events. As a junior elite, she had to sacrifice execution in favor of big skills. And when she began her college recruiting process in 2019 at only age 14, she rushed into a premature decision without taking much time to explore her options.
This year she felt different, though. Growing older, she developed a new level of maturity that allowed her to take ownership of her gymnastics and make decisions that best reflected her personality and her goals both in the sport and in life. The two most important choices were to move back from elite to level 10 to focus on her college preparation and to switch her commitment from Georgia to Utah for the 2024 season.
Gantner competed as an elite for three years between 2018 and 2020. Although she enjoyed her experience—making new friends, travelling across the country and having “some pretty unique experiences that not many get to have”—late last year she decided that it was best for her to transition back to level 10.
“I wanted to go back to level 10 so I could have a little more balance in my life, not just completely focused on gymnastics,” Gantner explained. “Level 10 is also a little more relaxed, and I can enjoy it a little more. It is actually helpful for college because now I am working on perfecting my skills rather than trying to get a lot of big skills and routines.”
As Gantner won at least one gold medal at every meet she competed in this year, from the outside the transition back to level 10 didn’t appear too difficult. Yet it didn’t come without its challenges.
“One difference I had to adjust to was performing each skill with the smallest amount of deduction possible, rather than trying to put all sorts of combos together,” she said. “I also decided to go back to 10 pretty close to season—we had to decide what I was doing and get routines ready very quickly, so that was definitely a little difficult. But by the end of season I started to figure it out a little more.”
Gantner ended up having a brilliant conclusion to her 2021 season, winning all around gold at Region 5 regionals and all around silver, as well as gold on bars and beam, at nationals. Together with a particular attention to the small details of her routines, a more relaxed mindset was instrumental to her success. “I tried not to put so much pressure on show sets or competitions and just do my routines like I did all the time at practice,” she said. “I just stayed more relaxed and didn’t get too stressed about everything.”
“When you are in a better mood and are having a good time,” she added, “it is much easier to accomplish more than when you are worried about messing up.”
With a more mature understanding of her goals and expectations, Gantner also decided to re-enter the recruiting process and take her time to get to know different teams and their coaching staffs.
“When I committed to Georgia, it felt very rushed,” she said. “Now that I am older, I wanted to go through the whole recruiting process and consider all of my options. Before the rule switch I only went to a few colleges and didn’t have a lot of time to get to know the staff and the team, so this time around I wanted to make sure I felt like the staff and team were a good fit along with the school and the campus.”
When she visited Utah, Gantner immediately felt that something was special there. “Utah has such an amazing program and the amount of support I feel from the staff is like nowhere else,” she explained. “All the coaches have a great balance of having a good time but also being productive and competitive. They all work well together and communicate well with the girls on the team.”
Gantner quickly connected with her future teammates and became friends with Ella Zirbes, who is also committed to Utah for the 2024 season. She believes that her teammates are so talented that they stand a good chance at winning a national championship in the years to come. “There are so many great athletes, so I think we will have a great chance at winning when I am there,” she said.
For now, however, she has learned not to rush things and instead simply enjoy the ebbs and flows of the present moment. The good and the bad times, for Gantner, are equally important because “they have truly made me who I am today.”
As she prepares for her final two years of club gymnastics, she hopes to qualify to a second Nastia Liukin Cup after her 2017 appearance was both one of the favorite moments of her career and her “worst meet ever.” Plus, she would love to win an all around national title after narrowly missing out on it this year to LSU commit Kylie Coen.
Most importantly, though, Gantner hopes to soak it all in and enjoy every meet she gets to compete in. It makes no sense to stress about one single moment, she said. “Look at the bigger picture and just take it all in because it will be gone before you know it.”
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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