As the only remaining varsity member of the class of 2026 since her freshman year, senior gymnast Nora Werner has stayed loyal to the Blue Devil program led by Coach Mary Kovac. Her passion began at just 2 years old, when Nora first found herself in the gym, leading into 2nd grade when she joined club at Ultimate Gymnastics, right here in Gurnee.

The sport of gymnastics compiles power and strength with grace and flexibility. A journey for committed competitors like Nora, requires endless, grueling hours of practice in becoming a focused, versatile, and strong athlete. The discipline found in the gymnastics world is incomparable to any other sport, and almost inhumane to those who are unfamiliar to the athlete lifestyle. However aside from the physical demand, every gymnast faces a tough mental battle even early on into their career. 

Our very own Nora Werner is no stranger to it, and is a role model for all athletes in showing resilience, and transforming these mental challenges into fuel for accomplishing future goals. 

She describes some of these obstacles saying, “I’ve dealt with multiple injuries that have set me back during the season and before senior year I wasn’t planning on even doing the season. When I came back, I had to overcome a lot of mental blocks and find my love for the sport again.” Her resilience continues to shine through in describing that “My biggest driving factor this past year was making the most of my senior year and proving to myself that I could come back better than before.” And without a doubt, she returned with a fire beneath her that went on to her competing at State this year on February 20-21 for Beam, and placing an impressive 5th place in the state for her favorite event, Uneven Bars!

This of course, after earning the NSC Sportsmanship Award her junior and senior year, all conference on floor, beam, bars, all around, and all academics also during her junior year, and even competing at state her sophomore year for floor. Just a few accolades to name, that don’t even begin to cover her commitment to the team and personal impact to Warren’s gymnastics program. 

Outside of being a competitor to look out for, she exemplifies being a supportive and caring contributor to the girlhood of the gymnastics community. “Cheering for my teammates and other gymnasts and building a positive and inclusive community” plus doing her teammates’ hair on bus rides to meets are her best parts of the sport. Especially in high school, while saying goodbye to the sport you’ve built your life, identity, and relationships around is difficult, it’s memories and impacts like these that allow you to leave the gym someone so much more than their sport. Nora’s legacy will always be more than her performance as a gymnast and lead others “to be able to find their passion and the joy in gymnastics and to enjoy every moment of it.”