JJ Coleman and her teammates react after scoring the first perfect 10.0 on floor by a Buckeye since 2003. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
Before stepping onto the floor at Covelli Center, Ohio State gymnast Janiya Coleman heard a simple message from her coach: be normal.
“All she just said is, ‘I want normal Jania. That’s all I want.’” Coleman recalled.
After months of recovering from ankle surgery and rebuilding confidence in her routines, Coleman didn’t need to do anything extraordinary. She just needed to do what she had practiced.
“All I have to do is a normal floor routine and I’m gonna get a good score,” Coleman said. “It wasn’t about doing anything different. I was like, “All I have to do is my normal and [a 10.0] will be my score.”?
Ninety seconds later, she delivered a perfect 10, the program’s first in more than two decades.
Coleman’s perfect score, the first for the program since 2003, marked a breakthrough for a gymnast returning from injury and a program trying to establish itself among the top teams in collegiate gymnastics.
“It just proves that no matter what happens, you’re not done yet,” she said. “You can come back and you’re going to be just as good as you were before the injury. Heck, maybe even better.”
Meredith Paulicivic’s belief in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, native’s resilience and sheer athleticism never wavered.
“She has a 32-inch vertical jump, which is insane,” Paulicivic said. “It’s the average jump of an NBA player. I mean, I have been coaching for 30 years. I’m not sure I’ve ever had someone with that kind of power.”
Balancing her power with the mental side of gymnastics was a learning curve for Coleman as she entered her freshman season. Paulicivic said there are certain times in gymnasts’ routines when they are supposed to breathe and say words to themselves before tumbling passes, a concept that Coleman has embraced and that has elevated her scores to 9.9 or higher in all but one meet this season.
“We’re essentially a sport of free throws or field goals or penalty kicks,” Paulicivic said. “You can’t pass the ball to somebody else. You’re up there by yourself, and that’s all you’ve got is you and what’s going on inside your head.”
Coleman’s 10.0 is the second perfect score in floor routine history for Ohio State and the first since Rickee Wirtzberger’s floor routine against Ball State in 2003.
?“For our program, it’s kind of like shattering the glass ceiling,” Paulicivic said.?
Paulicivic said that in the world of collegiate gymnastics, building a reputation matters for competing with big names. Coleman’s routine has brought more attention to the program, which jumped from No. 20 to No. 17 in the NCAA rankings.
“It means so much to me, because it’s letting everyone know, don’t doubt Ohio State,” Coleman said. “We’re still on the rise.”
