KAILUA-KONA — All the way in Idaho, Molly Batol felt right at home on the balance beam.
Batol scored a perfect 10 in the event while in Boise earlier this month, a highlight of an eventful regional meet for the Hawaii Preparatory Academy 5th grader and Kona Aerials gymnast.
Batol — a Level 8 gymnast — was part of the Hawaii All-Star team at the event. Other states represented in the regional meet were Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
“It was very exciting because everybody there looked excited and was cheering loudly and dressed in pink because that was our team color,” Batol said. “They were all yelling and dancing hula and blowing on the pupu shells and some dads were even drumming on the trash cans.”
Individually, Batol finished second overall at the event, combining her scores from the beam, bars, vault and floor events. As a team, the Hawaii All-Stars finished third.
“The most memorable part was when I saw that I got a 10 on beam at the team competition,” Batol said, mentioning she got a cowboy hat for the achievement. “I like the beam because it is fun to challenge myself to tumble on it and try to stay on.”
Just to make the Hawaii team was a big accomplishment by Batol. She was the only outerisland gymnast to make the squad, getting the coach’s attention when she posted a personal best all-around score of 37.125 at the qualifying state meet in March.
“I was very excited and amazed I could do it,” she said. “I was also very proud and super excited because I went to an invitational last year as a Level 7 and watched last year’s Level 8 team compete and I knew it was going to be super memorable.”
Batol said she has been doing gymnastics since she was 2 years old, after her mom spotted an advertisement in the newspaper. She has stuck with it since then, and credited many people for her ever-growing list of achievements in the sport.
“I want to say thank you to my teammates and coach Nanette, coach Rhonda and coach Sierra from Kona Aerials who were with me every step of the way and cheering for me during practice so I could get the feel of regionals,” Batol said.
