Feb. 18--Being a perfectionist has often suited Abby Hasanov quite well in her gymnastics career.
The Barrington senior is the defending state floor exercise champion and tied for the top prize on bars as a sophomore in 2014. She also has placed in the top eight in the all-around at the state meet in each of her first three seasons.
Her incessant drive for improvement also brings some pitfalls though, which Hasanov has worked hard to curtail as she has matured.
"As a freshman and sophomore, there were times I was almost in tears if I didn't get something exactly right," Hasanov said. "But over the years, I've buckled down on staying poised, blocking out the negative and focusing on my skills."
Hasanov's coach, Jason Loeffler, has been on both sides of the perfectionist pendulum. While he relishes coaching someone who is so devoted to perpetual improvement, he's had to employ various tactics to try to force Hasanov to ease up.
The latter situation arose last month when Hasanov was nursing a sore back, prompting Loeffler to suggest she not compete in two important meets.
Yes, the team's performance suffered. But Hasanov got the necessary rest to ensure she'd be ready for the season's stretch run.
"If you want to do the worst thing in the world to Abby, make her sit out and watch a gymnastics meet that she could be competing in," Loeffler said. "I have to slow Abby down a lot of times. She's just wired that way. She keeps working at something until she does it to her satisfaction."
Despite already having earned two state crowns in individual events, Hasanov is dead-set on adding to that total this weekend at the state meet at Palatine. While the floor exercise and bars offer good chances at potential repeats, Hasanov has honed in on the beam as her senior campaign's main focus.
The main reason: It's the event she's struggled with most during her career.
"If you're not focused on what you're doing, it can be scary up there," she said of the beam. "Now, I'm a lot less nervous and I feel like it's my best chance (to win) this year."
A fall at sectionals last year helped trigger Hasanov's emphasis on the beam, which began with intense practice sessions last summer with her club coach.
The extra focus has paid off so far. Hasanov can't recall a single beam routine this year that hasn't gone smoothly, including her easy sectional win last week when she scored a 9.6.
"Every tenth of a point at state counts," Hasanov said. "Everyone's put in so much work getting to this point, it's important to just be clean in your routines."
Besides mining for additional individual accolades, Hasanov will lead Barrington's quest to improve upon its fourth-place team finishes the past two years. The prohibitive favorite is defending champion Prairie Ridge, but the Fillies hope to break free from the next group of competitors, which includes DeKalb, Carmel, Glenbard West, Lake Park and perennial contender Fremd.
While this week's focus in the gym revolves entirely on the task at hand, a piece of Hasanov's future was cemented on Wednesday when she signed a national letter of intent with UIC.
"Last weekend, I watched video of me at state as a freshman and it was crazy to see how far I've come," she said. "This is my last high school meet, so I'm trying to keep an open mind and have fun with it. But seeing that video also made me even more focused on ending things with a bang."
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
IHSA girls gymnastics state meet
When: 5 p.m. Friday (All-around final/Individual preliminaries); 5:45 p.m. Saturday (Individual, team finals).
Where: Palatine High School.
Defending Team Champion: Prairie Ridge.
Gymnasts to watch: Nikki Baars, Jr., Prairie Ridge; Maddie Diab, Fr., Glenbard West; Abby Hasanov, Sr., Barrington; Aleah Leman, Jr., DeKalb; Samantha Lococo, Jr., Carmel; Maddie Nowak, Sr., Hinsdale South; Maddie Solka, Sr., Prairie Ridge.
