ABOVE: Lillie Schultz.

FAIRMONT – The stage is set for the Class A State Individual Gymnastics Championships on Saturday and the Martin County Area Magic’s Lillie Schultz is ready for the competition.

Qualifying in two events in the beam and uneven bars, the freshman gymnast is ready for the next level of competition with this being her first state appearance.

“It’s definitely been a long road,” said Schultz. “Especially for both events. There was a lot of mental stuff to get over, especially this year with just dismounts, actually on both of them.”

Schultz joined the program at a young age according to head coach Anne Post, but her progression as a gymnast has a lot to do with her focus and drive to get every aspect of her routines right.

“Lillie’s been in the gym with me since she was 4 years old,” said Post. “So she’s grown up in the gym. She spends a lot of time figuring out her skill level and learning new skills all the time.

She’s an incredible athlete and it shows how well she competes all the time.”

According to Post, Schultz has stayed dedicated to perfecting her routine on the beam and that is what helped propel her in that event. In addition to that, her technical proficiency on the uneven bars has been a big part of the success she found in that event.

“She was finishing her skills,” said Post. “So when she landed every single skill, she

really hit the beam solid, no wiggles or anything like that. So keeping on the beam really helped her. And then we’ve really been pushing her back handspring back full dismount and she landed that really well, so that helped her. Her bar routine is just like a typical Lilly routine … just very correct. How you do the skill is just very correct for her. She had very little faults and then her big giants into her layout flyaway dismount was the icing on the cake.”

Schultz is very excited to participate in the tournament, with her eyes set on the podium, but when asked what she’s most excited about, the answer was simple.

“The food,” she said.

Despite her culinary interests, Schultz is working hard to prepare but is just a little nervous about the people.

Looking past her nerves, Schultz is focused on competing and making sure her routines for her two events are completely locked in for the events she will be participating in.

“So my bars, it really comes down to the cleanliness of it,” said Schultz. “That’s what I’ve been told. I don’t have a lot in my bar routine, but my legs stay straight, my toes stay pointed. My giants definitely help a lot.

“On beam, really staying on is the main goal and connecting all of it, but my dismount really ups my score, you could say. I have a back handspring full off, which is definitely a mental game with the back handspring, just because they’ve been iffy in the past, but they’ve been pretty solid lately, so I’m doing well.”

Outside of gymnastics, Schultz is involved in FFA, volleyball, softball and gymnastics and is looking to have continued success as she contributes her level of effort to a piece of advice given by her mother.