This year’s The Republic Female Athlete of the Year is a study in perseverance.
Her freshman year, Adi Minor was one of the top gymnasts in the state, but broke her leg on the final event of the final meet of the regular season and was unable to compete in the postseason.
Her sophomore year, Minor again was one of Indiana’s top gymnasts, but had an off day at the state finals and had to settle for fifth place on the vault and a tie for sixth in the all-around.
As a junior, Minor had the state’s top scores in nearly every event, but severely sprained an ankle while warming up for the final regular-season meet. She still was able to compete in three events at the state meet and won a state title on the bars, while tying for third on the beam and finishing seventh on the floor.
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Her senior year, Minor finally put it all together. She won a state championship on the vault, defended her title on the bars, finished fourth on the floor and tied for second in the all-around to lead Columbus East to a fourth-place team finish. Only a fall on the beam kept her from winning the all-around title.
“I was just happy to be completely healthy and to be able to compete all four events, and to be able to go to the state meet and compete all-around,” Minor said. “I was just thanking God for my health this year because I was so worried with my injury last year. Overall, I couldn’t be more happy with it because I was injury free, and my season was the best one so far.”
The 5-foot-3 Minor leaves East with school records in three of the four individual events and the all-around. She scored 9.9s this season on both the bars and beam, had a 9.8 on the floor last year and this year and a 39.2 in the all-around last season.
This year, Minor added a second sport. Unable to run track the past three years because of injuries, she competed for the Olympians this spring in the long jump, 100 meters and 4×100 relay.
“It was very fun going from gymnastics that’s very strenuous and then going to track — not that it wasn’t strenuous or anything — but it was nice to have kind a cool-down season in a sport that wasn’t so intense on my body,” Minor said. “I really enjoyed track and made a lot of great friends. It was a really fun atmosphere being outside, and I really enjoyed track.”
Minor will continue her track career at DePauw University, where she plans to major in kinesiology. She may add the pole vault to the events she did in high school.
But after about 15 years of gymnastics, that era of her life is over.
“At first, I was really sad about it, but surprisingly, I haven’t missed it that much yet,” Minor said. “But I’m sure once winter comes around, I’ll miss it a lot. But I had a really good ride, and I went out with a bang, and I couldn’t be more happy.”
Minor called winning the Female Athlete of the Year award a great honor.
“I could not be more thankful for all of my friends, my family, my coaches, my teammates,” Minor said. “None of it would be there without them. I just cannot be more thankful for the community and how supportive they were.”
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Name: Adi Minor
School: Columbus East
Year: Senior
Sports: Gymnastics, track and field
Major achievements: Two-time state gymnastics champion on the bars, state champion on the vault and state runner-up in the all-around as a senior
College choice: DePauw
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