Medina's Anna Schork goes out on top at GCC gymnastics meet

MEDINA — Anna Schork waved to the crowd, visibly soaking in the moment, as she stood on the podium at the Greater Cleveland Conference Meet.In her final home appearance for the Medina gymnastics team, the senior standout went out on top Tuesday.Schork captured the all-around championship and GCC Gymnast of the Year honors for the initial time, along with the floor exercise title, in leading the Bees to a runner-up finish behind Strongsville at the six-team competition.The reigning Gazette MVP earned 36.25 points to decisively outscore runner-up Lauren Pozsonyi of the Mustangs, who had 35.55. Medina senior Hailey Hofmann was third with 34.5 and Bees sophomore Bethany Hofmann placed fifth at 33.25."I started good on bars and my beam was a little off, but I shook it off on the floor and bounced back," a chuckling Schork said. "And vault was vault. It always is."Things have been going really well the last several weeks, so I felt like I needed to get another iffy meet out of the way, just to reset myself going into districts."Schork's definition of an "iffy meet" saw her become the first Medina gymnast to claim the GCC MVP award since Colleen Johnson in 2022. She also took gold on the floor with a 9.45, again ahead of co-runner-up Pozsonyi at 8.9.Pozsonyi flipped their order on the uneven parallel bars by a 9.45-9.3 score and won the balance beam at 9.1. Schork took a rare fall in the latter event, placing fifth at 8.7, but appeared calmer following the miscue.After her terrific floor routine, Schork wrapped up her evening with a third on the vault at 8.8. It provided her overall margin of victory as Pozsonyi went 8.1 earlier."This was a good day for all of us to see where we're at before the (Hudson District next weekend)," the three-time state qualifier said. "I thought everyone on our team had good bar routines and we did well on the floor."Brunswick senior Elli Rahas was second on the beam with a 9.0 and posted a career-high 8.6 in finishing sixth on the bars, performing a giant swing for the first time at a prep meet. Coach Jacqueline George called her "our MVP today" for coming up big in both events.Rahas noted that she completed all of her elements on the beam, as was also the case in her title-winning routine at the High School Challenge held at historic Public Hall in Cleveland."I love beam, so I was really happy to hit that," she said. "The event is all about repetition and I would be on it the entirety of the rotation in practice, getting everything down. Now that I'm coaching at Five-Star, I get to stay up there all the time, which is great."Senior Ella Vozar placed sixth in the all-around for the Blue Devils, who were third in the team standings. She joined Pozsonyi and the Hofmann sisters in medaling at the GCC regular season and postseason meets in the A-A.Fellow senior Madison Dempsey epitomized Brunswick's can-do spirit by tying for second on the floor, her specialty. She endured multiple falls on the beam, but demonstrated no ill-effects in going straight to the large mat and ringing up an 8.9."Sometimes, I get to hard on myself, but I didn't let that happen," said Dempsey, who won the floor at the GCC regular season meet. "Overall, I thought we did OK tonight, but I liked the energy and the team spirit throughout. That really helps a lot after a rough event."Medina sophomore Brianna DeBow was fourth on the vault, equaling her score of 8.65 from the first GCC meet, when she placed third. Regular season beam co-champ Caitlyn Oehlers tied for seventh in the event and shared ninth on the bars.Oehlers and Hailey Hofmann admirably pulled double-duty after spending the morning and early afternoon in the water at the Bowling Green District diving meet. Oehlers, a junior, finished 13th and Hofmann was 15th."It's great having Caitlyn as a teammate and going through that experience together," Hofmann said. "When we were leaving BG, we joked, 'See you in two hours,' because there was no way we were missing this meet."Both girls made 11 total dives at Cooper Natatorium, beginning at 8:15 a.m. Oehlers said starting their adventure in the pool was preferable to vice versa because "diving lessens the impact, as opposed to landing on the floor in gymnastics.""We did well tonight and we have high hopes going to districts," Oehlers said. "We're aiming for even higher scores and look forward to seeing how we can do that at practice."Contact Brian Dulik at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @BrianDulik on X.ResultsTeam standings: 1. Strongsville 140.95, 2. Medina 137.7, 3. Brunswick 132.9, 4. Mentor 120.15, 5. Cleveland Heights 90.5, 6. Shaker Heights 90.05.Regular season standings: 1. Strongsville 140.15, 2. Medina 135.3, 3. Brunswick 132.55, 4. Mentor 120.85, 5. Shaker Heights 74.15, 6. Cleveland Heights 57.3.Overall standings: 1. Strongsville 12, 2. Medina (10, 3. Brunswick 8, 4. Mentor 6, 5. Cleveland Heights 3, 5. Shaker Heights 3.All-around — 1. Anna Schork (Med) 36.25, 2. Lauren Pozsonyi (Str) 35.55, 3. Hailey Hofmann (Med) 34.5, 4. Ray Shapiro (CH) 33.95, 5. Bethany Hofmann (Med) 33.25, 6. Ella Vozar (Bru) 32.4.Vault — 1. Chloe Clark (Str) 9.0, 2. Ray Shapiro (CH) 8.85, 3. Schork (Med) 8.8, 4. Brianna DeBow (Med) 8.7, 5. Hofmann (Med) 8.65, 5. Madalyn Caldwell (Str) 8.65.Uneven parallel bars — 1. Pozsonyi (Str) 9.45, 2. Schork (Med) 9.3, 3. Lisette Bair (Str) 9.25, 4. Abigail Burik (Str) 8.95, 5. Clark (Str) 8.85, 6. Elli Rahas (Bru) 8.6.Balance beam — 1. Pozsonyi (Str) 9.1, 2. Rahas (Bru) 9.0, 3. Burik (Str) 8.85, 4. Hofmann (Med) 8.75, 5. Schork (Med) 8.7, 5. Rachael Barton (Str) 8.7.Floor exercise — 1. Schork (Med) 9.45, 2. Pozsonyi (Str) 8.9, 3. Madison Dempsey (Bru) 8.9, 4. Hofmann (Med) 8.85, 5. Clark (Str) 8.8, 6. Sienna Cancilla (Str) 8.75.