Oswego East Student-Athlete of the Week-Frani Schulte

The Oswego Co-op Gymnastics team went through a reloading phase this off-season. After graduating 11 seniors from last year’s squad, the coaching staff knew they would need to rely on underclassmen and incoming freshmen. Fortunately, they were blessed with a talented freshman squad, with four being asked to compete on the varsity regularly. Frani Schulte is one of those four, and her skill set, maturation this season, and dedication to her craft are why she is this week’s Oswego East student-athlete of the week.

Frani’s journey into gymnastics started at the young age of 3, when she took classes at the Oswegoland Park District, where her mom, Carrie, helped coach Frani. Frani would move on to USAG and eventually settle into Premier Gymnastics before focusing her attention on the high school season.

Beginning high school is always a big transition for students, regardless of whether or not they compete in athletics. Most freshmen compete strictly with and against other athletes their age, but Frani was thrown into the fire immediately.

“Frani came to us with a fairly robust background in competition at the JO level, having been coached at the Oswegoland Park District by Grace, one of our assistant coaches,” says head coach Mike Borge. He goes on to say, “Grace was fully confident on day one that Frani could deliver at the varsity level, and Frani proved that to be the case immediately in the gym. Her skill level is on par with nearly any varsity program in the state, and she quietly puts in work to keep pushing herself to improve, even when it may seem like no one is watching.”

Fortunately for Frani, she had mentors in her older sisters, Gianna and Gabriella. Although Gianna graduated last spring, she still finds time to come in from the University of Kentucky to watch her sisters compete. Gabriella is a sophomore on the team and has helped ease the transition for Frani to the varsity team. “My sisters and I have a bit of a rivalry in that we want to beat each other’s scores when we compete, but if something goes wrong or I need advice, I know I can always go to them for support,” says Frani.

Frani has made an immediate impact in multiple events for the varsity, competing in floor, on beam, and vault. “Frani has the 5th highest season average on the floor, 4th highest on the vault, and 3rd highest on the beam,” says Mike. He goes on to say, “Frani has notched multiple top-10 finishes on the beam, and likely also where she has seen the most improvement, from a 7.8 at the start of the season in November to an 8.7 score at our most recent invitational in January. Frani is also consistently putting in work and showing great improvement on bars for next year, opening up the possibility of being a four-event athlete in the future.”

Frani and her teammates set a goal before the season of scoring 140 or higher in competition and have almost met their goal, scoring 139.95 at last week’s meet. With the conference this weekend and regionals next, the girls are peaking at the right time.

“I expect that the team will win our conference this weekend and advance from regionals to sectionals as a team,” says Mike. He adds, “Frani could likely be a multiple-event qualifier on an individual level.”

With four freshmen competing for the varsity this season, the team and Frani are poised for very big things in the future. “I am excited about the end-of-season prospect this year, but even more so when I consider that we retain nearly every athlete at both levels in the program next season,” says Mike. He goes on to say, “Frani is poised to be a critical part of a very competitive team for the next few seasons, and we are already in conversation about her as an all-around athlete in the years to come, believing that state qualification in multiple events is a very real possibility in Frani’s future.”

With plenty of time to decide her plans after high school, Frani’s immediate future includes trying out for the soccer team, another sport she has competed in since she was young. Frani is hopeful that as her high school career progresses, she will have opportunities from schools to compete in either gymnastics or soccer at the collegiate level. Her long-term plans also include majoring in nursing, where she will follow in the footsteps of her mom, Carrie, who is a nurse practitioner, as well as Gianna, who is also majoring in nursing.

Her Contemporary Human Geography teacher, Sean Kelleher, believes Frani has all the qualities to succeed in either the nursing field or many other areas of study. “Frani works incredibly hard as a student, is empathetic to her classmates, and is a high achiever,” says Sean. He goes on to say,” Nursing is an incredibly difficult field to study and requires an outstanding work ethic, which Frani possesses. A good bedside manner is vital to the success of a nurse, and Frani has exhibited qualities that make me believe she will excel in that area.”

Competing for a varsity team as a freshman has pushed Frani to mature quicker than her classmates, and she shares her newfound wisdom with future Wolves by saying, “Find a good group of people to surround yourself with for friends because there is a difference between friends that are fake or temporary and ones that will be around when you need them most.” The gymnastics team has already shown their youth movement is filled with girls who will do what it takes to be successful, and if they continue to be there for each other throughout their careers, they will be able to etch their names in the history books as one of the most successful groups to compete for the Oswego Co-op.