Raise The Bar

When it comes to being a student-athlete, the highs and lows are an undeniable part of the journey.

As a sophomore gymnast at the University of Minnesota in 2021, I was having the best season of my gymnastics career. 

For the first time, I was an All-American.

It was everything I dreamed of.

I started practicing gymnastics when I was just four years old, and being recognized as one of the best gymnasts in the entire country was a testament to all the hard work I put in to get me to this moment.

At the time, it seemed like life couldn’t get any better. 

In a way, that turned out to be true because it would all soon come crashing down.

Not long after, I was informed that the men’s gymnastics program would be cut permanently due to Title IX and financial deficits from Covid.

It completely blindsided me and the rest of my teammates. 

The worst part — I had no control over the situation.

I was devastated, but I also come from a military family. We change and adapt to whatever situation is in front of us.

I wouldn’t finish my career in Minnesota, but my strong work ethic and motivation to improve every single day remained the same. 

This was an obstacle, but I was not going to let it define me.

Reconnecting with Nebraska

At my lowest moment, quitting gymnastics and finishing my final two years as a student at Minnesota was in the back of my mind. 

After thinking it over, though, I couldn’t let this be how my gymnastics career ended.

I’d been doing gymnastics for almost 15 years, and I wasn’t ready for it to end. I had plenty of goals I still wanted to accomplish.

Coming out of high school, the University of Nebraska was my second choice behind Minnesota. So when I was looking at other schools to transfer to, Nebraska was naturally the first school I talked to.

I got connected with one of the assistant coaches at Nebraska, John Robinson, almost immediately. We started communicating back and forth and getting to know each other a little better.

It didn’t take long for me to decide that Lincoln was where I wanted to be. Not only would a transfer to Nebraska allow me to stay in the Big 10 Conference, but I was familiar with the program

There are a lot of great people here at Nebraska, and I wanted to help elevate the program as best as I possibly could.

Fortunately, Nebraska also saw the potential I could bring to the program as a student-athlete, and I’ve been in Lincoln since the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

It may not have been where I started my career, but I can honestly say there’s no place I’d rather be.

Iron sharpens from

When I arrived at Nebraska, one of the first things that caught my attention was the facilities.

We have one of the biggest gyms in the entire country for men’s gymnastics. Every day I get to train and practice there is an unbelievable blessing that I don’t take for granted.

If there’s anything I love more than the facilities, though, it’s the people. I’m surrounded by the most supportive and hard-working coaches and teammates I could possibly ask for.

There’s an old saying that iron sharpens iron, and that’s exactly how I feel each day in practice with my coaches and teammates. We’re all trying to push each other to bring out the best in one another.

I’m an extremely competitive person, so to have an atmosphere where I’m surrounded by guys who want to be the best and refuse to settle for complacency and mediocrity, means everything in the world to me.

We know the process, we trust the process, and we’ve learned to love the process of hard work and improving our craft.

On our best days and our worst days, we’re there for each other, and I couldn’t imagine a better group of guys to go to battle with each day.

The work never stops

With the support of my teammates and coaches, I was fortunate enough to once again become an All-American last season

All the success I was able to achieve last year has only motivated me further to keep improving throughout my senior season, which will be the last in my gymnastics career.

I’m eligible for an extra Covid year next season, but after competing in gymnastics for almost my entire life, I’m at peace in calling it a career at season’s end.

I love gymnastics, and I always will, but I’m also excited to try something new. Once I graduate from Nebraska, I plan to follow in my father’s footsteps and join the Army with the intention of being a geospatial engineer.

From a young age, my parents instilled the importance of working hard and being diligent in everything I do, and that opened so many doors for me in my gymnastics career.

Striving to be the best version of myself led me to becoming a two-time All-American in a sport that’s been my biggest passion since I was four years old.

As I pursue other passions in life, I know the hard work has only just begun. I also know there will be challenges ahead.

But setting high expectations for myself, despite the roadblocks in my way, has never stopped me before.

It’s not about to stop me now.