It was a very successful Section 7A gymnastics meet last Saturday for the Becker Bulldogs gymnastics team, as they finished runners-up as a team and also qualified three individuals for the State Class A gymnastics meet.

“For the Bulldogs, who finished fourth last season, a second place finish and advancing three individuals to the MSHSL State Class A meet was the perfect ending to an amazing season,” Coach Kayla Kalinowski said. “We knew going into the meet that Big Lake had a significant scoring advantage and we just wanted to hit our routines and have our best meet of the year. While it wasn’t our highest score of the year, this meet was by far our best meet of the season. We couldn’t have asked for a better team effort and the girls had an absolute blast hitting routine after routine.”

Overall, Becker finished with a score of 139.95, second only to the Big Lake Hornets, who hit a 145.85 to advance to the state meet.

Individually, Riley Norberg qualified for state on the vault and beam, Emma Hennessey will represent the Bulldogs at state on the bars and Lauren Woelfel will join them after qualifying on the beam.

“We are thrilled to have three gymnasts representing our school at the MSHSL Class A State Gymnastics Meet Saturday, February 19th,  at 6 p.m. at the Roy Wilkens Auditorium in St. Paul,” Kalinowski said. “It has been many years since the Bulldogs have been able to advance multiple gymnasts to this meet and we are excited to represent our school and program in a big way this year.”

Becker started the section meet on the floor and produced their best set of the season.

“It was fun to see the girls not only hit their routines, but have fun and show off all their hard work,” Kalinowski said. Hennessey started the rotation with a 8.425, followed by Lauren Woelfel with an 8.8. Next was a beautiful routine by Sarah Woelfel that scored a 9.125 (ninth place) and then Chloe Spear hit an 8.85.  Norberg finished with a seventh place score of 9.15.

Vault was next and Tessa Maruska led off with a solid 8.3, followed by Spear with an 8.325. Sarah Woelfel then hit a nice handspring 1 ½ for an 8.8 and a ninth place finish. Hennessey fought through some ankle soreness to land a nice tuck tsuk for an 8.5, while Norberg closed out the rotation with a beautiful stuck layout tsuk for a 9.425 and a second place finish to earn herself a trip to the state meet. 

Kalinowski said the momentum carried over into the next event, the Bars. 

“There was a confidence among the team that we haven’t seen before and they came in ready to keep the momentum moving,” the coach said.

Theresa Johnson led off with a 7.2, followed by Justine Vilmo who posted her best bar routine of the season and a 10th place 8.35.  

“Justine worked amazingly hard the last couple weeks to upgrade her bar routine and it was so much fun to see that hard work pay off as a senior competing in her last meet,” Kalinowski said.

Sarah Woelfel and Riley Norberg followed with a pair of 7.8’s, while Hennessey closed out the rotation with a beautiful routine and landed her double flyaway for a season high score of 8.625, earning her a first ever trip to the state meet.  

Becker moved on to the beam and put together their best performance of the season, winning the event with an amazing score of 36.4

“Eighth grader Chloe Spear was tasked with leading us off on the event and didn’t let her youth show, as she nailed a season high scoring beam routine for a 9.1 and a fifth place finish, just missing out on a state birth,” Kalinowski said.

Hennessey followed with an 8.525 and Sarah Woelfel scored a 8.1. Lauren Woelfel was up next and hit her best beam set of the year to score a season high 9.325 and place second to also qualify for state.

“Riley Norberg closed out the rotation and had every set of eyes at the meet on her as she was the very last competitor of the entire meet,” Kalinowski said. “The senior didn’t let that phase her at all and hit her best ever beam set to win the event with a 9.45 and advanced to the state meet on another event.”  

 In the all-around competition, Becker had three girls place in the top 10. Senior Sarah Woelfel finished in ninth place, while Hennessey finished seventh and Norberg fifth.

“We look forward to an amazing meet and hope to bring home some state hardware this weekend,” Kalinowski said.