Gymnast Ruse, 16, achieves rare feat

The Poland junior won a national all-around title after breaking her arm.

By John Kovach

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

POLAND — Stacia Ruse of Poland has performed a rare feat in Youngstown-area gymnastics.

The 16-year-old junior at Poland High, who trains at the Youngstown Gymnastics Center under coach Sandy Sabo, has won a Level 9 national all-around championship this past season — after breaking her arm the year before and being shelved eight months.

“It is very rare in any age level to win nationals. I haven’t heard of anyone [in this area] winning a national all-around title in the 10 Levels. Some kids may have won an event but not the all-around. [Ruse] won two events and the all-around,” said Sabo, who has been coaching Ruse since she was 11 years old.

Ruse won the four-event all-around title at the 2009 USA Gymnastics Eastern Women’s Junior Olympic Championships that concluded May 10 in Tupelo, Miss., with a score of 37.325. She won vaulting (9.425) and uneven bars (9.3) while placing third on balance beam (9.25) and floor exercise (9.35).

She qualified for the national meet by winning the USA Gymnastics Level 9 regional crown in Muncie, Ind., in April.

The Eastern Championships include the best gymnasts from Eastern half of the U.S., and are one of two USA Gymnastics’ National Championships. The other is the Western Championships.

The national field consists of 16 age divisions (Junior 1-8 and Senior 1-8), each consisting of the top six all-around regional qualifiers.

Ruse, the daughter of Elaine and Kevin Ruse who also has a 4.0 grade-point average at Poland, said that practice and coaching are the keys to winning a national championship.

“We put in a lot of time and effort. There are a lot of hours spent in the gym. There is a lot of training involved. The important thing is practicing enough to get everything down right. If you don’t practice, you won’t get very far,” said Ruse, who began her gymnastics training when she was four years old but didn’t start competing until she was seven.

Ruse said that Sabo became her coach when she was 11.

“The coaching comes into it, too. Sandy is a good coach She pushes us hard but it is all worth it,” said Ruse, who managed to bounce back from her broken arm with practice, determination and perseverance.

“I broke my arm vaulting in a meet in Chicago about halfway through the season in February of ‘08. I was out for eight months. I didn’t train all summer. I started getting back in September and October. I had to jump back [into training]. My early meets weren’t very good.”

Sabo said that Ruse will advance to Level 10 next year and then into college gymnastics. “She a good candidate for a scholarship,” said Sabo.

But, “She is not an Olympic candidate now. Olympic candidates come from the Elite level, which comes after Level 10. Stacia is geared more toward competing in college. It would take twice as many hours to train in Elite. She does about 20 hours now. In the Elite level, she would do about 35 hours a week.”

Ruse said she is not thinking about becoming an Olympic candidate at this time.

“I would like to go to college to compete in gymnastics. I hope that there is interest in me,” said Ruse, who hopes to major in pre-medicine.

Regarding a possible Olympic future, she said, “I just want to get through four years of college and see what happens. It’s tough [to be a gymnast] as you get older. I never really thought about [the Olympics].”

Sabo said that Ruse has time to decide about any Olympic interest.

“She could choose to change her mind and begin Elite training while in college or after college. There are gymnasts who do that. They have different seasons. The college season runs from January-April while Elite training is from June-fall,” said Sabo.

One thing is for sure: Ruse right now has all of the academic and gymnastics skills to make some college team very happy.

But first she wants to finish a successful high school academic career while continuing to polish her skills in her chosen sport.

kovach@vindy.com