No coach and a practice schedule that prevents an entire team from practicing together would be a disaster for most sports programs, but the Grand Valley State University gymnastics club members does not intend to let those hurdles stop them from achieving success in 2012.

After advancing to the national meet a season ago, the Lakers began this season with a third place finish at Ohio State University.

“Overall it went pretty well,” said senior Alexa Kitson. “We took third place as a team, so we beat out a lot of the Division I schools like University of Michigan and Miami of Ohio … but I think there were some areas where we could’ve done better. We had a lot of falls and if we didn’t have those falls we’d be up there in placement.”

Juniors Chelsea DeKuiper and Bethany Ryder, along with Kitson, led the way for the Lakers placing fifth on the bars, floor routine and vault, respectively.

Despite not having a coach for the second consecutive season, GVSU’s goals in 2012 are to use their group commodore, their wiliness to work together and a mix of veterans and newcomers to place in every meet.

“Placing is a huge thing for us because we go to a lot of meets and people go, ‘Who is Grand Valley, where are you from?’” Kitson said. “Then when we start to podium, we start to get some recognition from other schools.”

Although third place was a solid finish in a meet where the Lakers faced mostly Division I National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Club teams, the team still has room to improve.

Ryder said GVSU will need to improve its consistency and production during practice in order to be successful throughout the season.

The Lakers next competition is Feb. 25 at the University of Notre Dame, a meet that GVSU won last season.

If GVSU has a chance at winning the Notre Dame meet for a second consecutive season, the Lakers will have to navigate around its inconsistent practice schedule.

“We need to be able to get the whole team in the gym at once,” Kinton said. “Our schedules are really demanding, so a lot of us are not as practice when others are. I think we all need to be in the gym together and practice our routines over and over again.”

Beyond the goal to place at every competition, the Lakers have aspirations of returning back to nationals.

However, making back-to-back appearances at the national meet brings with it new challenges for the GVSU.

“Nationals are actually the weekend of finals,” Kitson said. “If it works out with our schedules we’ll probably go, but they are in Utah this year, so it’s really far to travel.”

Regardless of what GVSU decides when it comes time for nationals, the club adviser, Marene Van Farowe said the team has already overcome numerous obstacles.

“They’re natural fighters,” said Van Farowe, who is a certified USA Gymnastics coach and judge. “They’ve come together, and obviously have gotten over a lot of hurdles. Without a coach, they have to coach each other and they have to come together, and so far so good.”

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