Gymnastics: Arvada West’s Petz Finds Freedom in Flight

AURORA – If you’re looking for Layla Petz of Arvada West, make sure you check the sky as well.

There’s a good chance she’s flying through it.

Whether it’s her main focus as the reigning all-around state champion in 5A gymnastics, or her side pursuits as a state placewinner in the pole vault and state qualifier in diving, Petz likes having a place in space.

“I think I’ve always loved the flipping and twisting, moving through the air in ways that your body probably shouldn’t,” she said.

She hasn’t done any parachuting or hang gliding just yet, but she has thrown a back-full on her snowboard.

“She doesn’t tell me about these things,” Arvada West coach Lori Dunkhase-Hayes said, laughing.

The gymnastics season is in full swing, spinning towards regionals beginning Oct. 30 and the Nov. 6 through 8 state championships at Thornton High School.

And Petz isn’t one to rest on her laurels.

“The best part about Layla’s personality is that she always likes to be challenged,” Dunkhase-Hayes said. “Once she settles into something she’s good at, we have to take that skill, or that event, to the next level.

“She was the all-around champion last year, and she could have settled for the same routines, the same skills … but that’s not her personality. So we’ve upped it a lot, and she has fun doing that. The best part of her ability as an athlete is that she wants to be challenged.”

At an early-season competition this year, Petz posted one of her best all-around scores ever while recording a personal-best 9.85 on the bars.

“My favorite event is bars, and it’s probably my best,” Petz said. “It always feels very freeing. That moment where you’re defying gravity – it’s just cool.”

But everything isn’t always easy for the senior.

“I hate vault,” she said. “It’s not my thing. But we’re working on it and it’s getting better.”

Picking spots to shine is key for Petz.

“With gymnastics in general, if it’s just not your day for that event at practice you kind of have to know that, ‘It’s OK. We don’t have to go full-out on this event today,’” Dunkhase-Hayes said. “And then when we’re in a good headspace, we’ll come back to it. That’s not just with vault, but with all of her events. Because the level of difficulty of what she does, if you’re not in the right headspace there’s a good chance of injury because her skills are so big.

“ … And once it comes into competition mode, she knows how to dial it in and put things behind her in order to be successful.”

A lifelong gymnast, Petz picked up other pursuits along the way.

“Growing up in gymnastics, I think I wanted to find ways to expand on that,” she said. “That kind of brought me to dive. Then I did track and I thought, ‘I don’t really want to run,’ so then I started pole vaulting – and it felt like bars, just the sense of flying.”

Petz, who has done all-star cheer in the past and is considering acro and tumbling in college as well as gymnastics and pole vaulting, was clutch at last year’s state gymnastics championships, finishing in the top three of all four events, winning the beam with a 9.675 and totaling 38.750 in the all-around.

“It was definitely exciting,” Petz said. “Because I didn’t really think it was going to happen. I had hoped, and I had worked for it, but it was it exciting and it showed that all of my work finally paid off.”

Whatever the event, Petz will more than likely find a way.

“She’s a great athlete to coach,” Dunkhase-Hayes said. “She’s the best athlete that I’ve ever coached in 29 years of coaching as far as level of skill, willingness to push herself and try hard things.”

As a team, Arvada West expects to be competitive once again.

“We’re going to be good,” Dunkhase-Hayes said. “We’re on pace. We always make our way slowly up there. I feel like me and my coaching staff have been good at pacing our girls to peak at the right time. Last year we didn’t have the best showing at league, but we ended up winning regionals for the first time in a long time and then hitting our best score at state, which put us fourth. We were super-proud of what our girls accomplished – we had (basically) a perfect meet.

“We’re in a better place, score-wise, than we were last year at this time and we’re just going to keep building on that.”

Having Petz involved helps.

“We talk about how it’s not about you until individual finals,” Petz said. “It took a while for me to embrace that. But it’s fun to help the team in the magnitude that I can provide. It’s nice to help put the team in the best position in those big meets.”