Trinity Thomas' dazzling NCAA performance leaves us selfishly wanting more

• Former West York High athlete Trinity Thomas won the NCAA gymnastics all-around title last week.
• She also captured individual crowns in the floor exercise and uneven bars.
• Thomas is set to graduate this spring. She must decide if she will continue her gymnastics career.

OK, let’s start off by saying we’re being selfish.

Let’s also state that it’s clearly not our decision to make.

Now that we established those disclaimers, we would like to declare, for the record, that we desperately hope Trinity Thomas will continue her gymnastics career.

Watching the former West York High School athlete dazzle a national television audience this past week at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships was just too enjoyable for everyone here in York County.

We want more of it — lots more of it.

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In fact, we’d love to see Thomas and her beaming smile compete for another two-plus years and make a run at one of the few gymnastics achievements that has eluded her — making the United States Olympic Team.

Stellar NCAA effort: Within the past week, Thomas has certainly established that she can compete with, and beat, the best gymnasts in the world.

For those who missed it, Thomas won the NCAA all-around title this past week for the Florida Gators. In the process, she bested several members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, including Sunisa Lee, who was the 2020 Olympic all-around champion in the Tokyo Summer Games, which were actually held in 2021 after being postponed because of the COVID 19 pandemic.

More:Trinity Thomas wins 3 NCAA individual gymnastics titles, including the all-around crown

More:Star gymnast Trinity Thomas still 'feels the love' in York County

Thomas missed her opportunity to qualify for the 2020 Olympics when she injured both of her ankles late in the 2021 college season.

After the injuries, Thomas said she was retiring from elite international competition to concentrate on her senior college season with the Gators. Since then, however, she’s opened the door a crack to possibly trying for a berth at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Now that she’s just completed a senior season for the ages at Florida, we’d love to see the young woman with the engaging personality make a run at Paris.

She's overcome adversity: She obviously has the talent and the drive necessary to make it to France. In addition to her NCAA all-around title, she also won 2022 individual NCAA crowns in the floor exercise and uneven bars.

Before last week, mostly due to bad luck, she had never won an NCAA individual title. The ankle injuries ruined her 2021 season and the pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA Championships.

After the disappointments of 2020 and 2021, Thomas made 2022 her own. She is the undisputed queen of college gymnastics.

Big decision to make: Now she has a big decision to make.

Gymnastics, traditionally, has been a young woman’s sport. Top gymnasts often reach their peak in their late teen years.

Thomas is already 21 and she’d be 23 during the Paris Games.

Does she want to submit herself to two more years of intense physical training? Gymnastics can be notoriously hard on young bodies.

No one could blame her if she moved on with her life. She’s been training since she was a young girl. She may very well need a break.

Model student: Plus, she’s also been a model student at Florida. She’s on track to graduate this spring with a degree in applied physiology and kinesiology. She’s made the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll all four years.

So, she’s well prepared to move on with her life, if that is what she wants to do.

Again, the decision is hers alone. She must choose what is right for her and we will respect and applaud her, no matter her choice.

Still, in our heart of hearts, we want to see more.

Watching her last week was just too much fun.