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Hughes was a four-time state gymnast and also an Academic All-State gymnast in 2005 at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, SD. She made appearances at the state meet for the vault in 2004 an 2005, in the all-around in 2004, and in the floor exercise in 2003 and 2004. But Hughes did not just learn about flips and landing perfectly, she also learned a lot about discipline and organizational skills.

“Gymnastics] was a huge time commitment,” said Hughes.

For Hughes, this year has been one of her greatest challenges. “Adapting to a new team where everyone is from different places and does things differently was challenging but also rewarding,” said Hughes. “It was interesting learning about different styles and techniques.”

Hughes has found that competition is harder in college than it was in high school. “High school gymnastics is a lot more relaxed. Anyone can be in it,” said Hughes. Both have their good points though.

“College gymnastics is more team-oriented. It’s nice to compete more as a team than as an individual,” Hughes said.
Hughes is a selfless individual. Her goals are not about herself, but about her team. Hughes said, “My goal is for us to be healthy, mix well, and make it to nationals.”

Hughes attributes the team’s inability to make it to nationals this year on injuries. “We have a good team with good chemistry; we just had a lot of injuries this year.”

Even though she has had a lot of pressure put on her, Hughes still does not sweat the small stuff, nor the big stuff. “I try not to take meets too seriously,” said Hughes. “I get nervous if I start thinking too much about the meet, so I try to keep myself preoccupied.”

Hughes also makes it a point to maintain a positive attitude no matter what goes on.

“I’ve had some bad days during the season and had one of my best meets the next week,” said Hughes. “Everybody has their bad days.”

Hughes credits her success not only to her practice of staying positive but also to the support given by her team and coaches. Hughes has been successful this year. She even become Hamline’s ninth All-American in the vault competition. She received a 9.525 at the preliminaries and a 9.6 in the finals.

“When I found out I made it [to finals] I was so excited,” said Hughes. “If someone told me in the beginning of the year I was going to make it to nationals, I don’t know if I would’ve believed it.”

Hughes started off the season a little slow as she hadn’t competed in some time, but she quickly kicked it in gear completing her final vault of the year with a 9.6, breaking Hamline’s school record of 9.575 set by Linsey Hamilton in 2000. While Hughes’ strongest area of gymnastics is the vault, her heart remains with the floor competition.
“It’s fun to go out there, and everyone can express themselves differently. It’s so unique,” said Hughes.

Hughes was one of four gymnasts to represent Hamline at the national championships. She was joined by Juniors Caitlin Goodin and Katie Davis and fellow first-year Brynn Stenslie. Davis narrowly missed the cut to make finals, finishing 16th in the uneven bars with a score of 8.8. Only the top 14 athletes go on to compete in the finals. Stenslie and junior Goodin finished 38th and 41st, respectively, in the balance beam. Stenslie was also 26th in the floor exercise.