Athlete of the Week: 10 questions with Elena Scarano, New Trier gymnastics

Elena Scarano is a senior gymnast for the Trevians. In a Jan. 27 tri-meet, Scarano scored a 9.2 with her floor routine.

1. Do you have any pre-meet rituals or superstitions?

For our team, we have this block of wood we use. Before any event or anything, you knock on wood, and we bring it around with us. We also listen to Tate McRae, one of our favorite artists, on the bus. It really pumps us up. I also get Starbucks, that’s my pregame meal — tomato and Mozzarella on focaccia and a strawberry acai (lemonade).

2. What are your plans for next year?

I plan to either attend the University of Colorado at Boulder or University of South Carolina, and major in biology to eventually do pre-dentistry after college and go down the orthodontist route.

3. Why the orthodontist route?

Because I feel like a lot of people tend to look down on going to the dentist … so I’m hoping to make it an environment more welcoming and something people look forward to more. And I’ve always had interest in the medical field.

4. What is your first memory of gymnastics?

I was at the Wilmette Park District and I started when I was pretty young, like 7 or 8, in recreational gymnastics. I remember we had one challenge we were trying to do on beam and that sparked my interest. I enjoyed fighting through and pushing through. .. I enjoy how difficult the sport can be but so rewarding it is when you can do it.

5. What is your top memory from the sport?

Being in high school gymnastics. That’s the highlight of my gymnastics career. The team is very welcoming and supportive where club can feel very individual. My favorite memories are probably last year, junior year. I was dealing with some injuries to my ankle and persevered. I had to nail a beam routine for us to get to state and it was my first time doing that. It was probably the most special moment for me with how hard we had worked.

6. If you could try another sport, what would it be?

If I could try another sport, I would say maybe lacrosse, because I’ve seen so many people enjoy it here at New Trier. I have a couple of friends who say the love it. Unfortunately, I don’t have much hand-eye coordination so I steered away from those kind of sports. Being good at that spot though would be nice, because then I could actually do something with my hands.

7. What is your favorite thing to do outside of gymnastics?

I really like to hang out with my friends. It’s the middle of the gymnastics season and we have a lot of new girls this year, so this season we were working hard at team-bonding activities, getting food. Getting to know new people is one of my favorite things to do.

8. If you are in Walgreens with a couple bucks, what are you buying?

Probably some Airhead Xtremes and probably a Diet Coke.

9. What is something people don’t know about you?

One thing a lot of people don’t know is I have a DJ board, and I like to DJ in my free time and sometimes with my friends who also have DJ boards. We get together and try new things and have a little fun with that.

10. With the playoffs this week, what does the team hope to accomplish?

Looking back last few weeks — compared to where we were at the beginning of the season when we were not where we wanted to be and then tried so hard and pushed each other to get better — we have gone up at least six or seven points since the beginning of the year. We really put in the effort and now it’s just putting in all we have in the last few meets and getting as far as we can. Just putting in the work, working on the tiny things to tally up those points. It will come down to those tenths, so we are really working hard.

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