Losing seniors to a sport is a challenge every coach has to deal with year-in and year-out, and gymnast Head Coach Jen Harmoning has had to supplement the losses to keep her teams competitive in their conference and sections.
Gymnasts Hannah Schmidt and Haley Olson are two key athletes Harmoning will need to supplant for this year and she’ll have another four gymnasts graduate in 2017 and another four in 2018.
That’s a lot of quality gymnasts to replace, but Harmoning has been known to take on challenges and succeed.
“Because Hannah had such a rough season due to injuries, we had to have some of our younger girls step up and take her place on each routine,” Harmoning said. “As horrible it was for Hannah, in the long run it probably helped some of our younger girls get their feet wet and be better prepared for this year.”
Harmoning has 19 girls on her varsity/JV teams and 13 seventh and eighth-graders waiting in the wings.
Beyond Schmidt’s injury, the squad from last year had a rash of injuries dismantle the club, opening the doors to opportunities for some other girls who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance.
Harmoning returns as the team’s head coach with Kelly McCall and Jesse Wiley also returning as assistants. Brandon Buesgens (chiropractor) will assist as a spotter and Autumn Robinson returns to the team as coach of the junior high team.
Harmoning mentioned she is a little concerned with a rule change this year that reduces difficulty points for certain skills and series of skills.
“We’ve relied on some of those bonus points to help our girls’ scores,” Harmoning said. “We’ll look for other ways to fill in those gaps. It’s not too big a deal for a “pretty good team” but for us, who are trying to be one of the better teams, it hurts a bit.”
Harmoning will have four seniors leading the team this year in Haley hubbard, Kassidy Severson, Aubree Lahr and Lexi Michels. Each athlete has been working hard to set examples for the rest of the team and fine-tune their own routines.
“We have lots of new floor routines and new choreography,” said Michels. “Our goal is to make it to state, perform well and win a medal. So let’s go!”
Hubbard couldn’t agree more.
“We are definitely shooting for going to state this year,” she said. “We lost two prominent seniors that we are gonna miss. But everyone has been training really hard and we are hoping it shows in our performances this year.”
Hubbard says most of the girls have been training and working out since April and some year-round. While most of the girls have — so far — been relatively healthy, the girls and coaches are not going into the season hesitantly because of past history.
“It’s important for all of us to stay healthy this year if we want to be the best team around,” said Severson.
“Yes, everyone is working their tails off and if we stay healthy, we think we can compete with just about anybody,” said Lahr.
Last season, the Bulldogs surprised many when they captured the Granite Ridge Conference title Feb. 13 and took home the Section 7A team tournament in Sauk Rapids a week later. The girls went on to compete as a team at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavillion later that month with Hubbard qualifying for state on floor, Katie Wilke on vault, Marlee Louden on bars and Louden and Lindsey Olsen on Beam.
Schmidt was Becker’s sole participant in the all-around.
The Section 7A tournament this year is Feb. 18 at Big Lake with the state tournament being held Feb. 24-25 at the U of M.
Today (Saturday), the Bulldogs host their annual Bulldog Clinic Invitational at noon. They will be hosting teams such as, Farmington,Howard Lake - Waverly - Winsted, North Branch Area Public Schools, Rush City, Saint Michael-Albertville, Sauk Rapids - Rice and Willmar.
Schedule
• 12/3 - Bulldog Invitational (home) - 12:00 p.m.
• 12/9 - Rush City/Pine City/Hinckley (away) - 6 p.m.
• 12/17 - Annandale Invitational (away) - 11:30 a.m.
• 12/22 - Little Falls (home) - 6 p.m.
• 1/7 - Big Lake Invitational (away) - 12:00 p.m.
• 1/10 - Maple Lake (home) - 6 p.m.
• 1/14 - Lakeville North Invite (away) - 12:00 p.m.
• 1/24 - Paynesville/EV-Watkins (away) - 6 p.m.
• 1/28 - True Team Invite (away) - 12:00 p.m.
• 2/3 - Eagan (away) - 6 p.m.
• 2/11 - Granite Ridge Meet (away) - 12:00 p.m.
• 2/18 - Section 7A (away) - 12:00 p.m.
• 2/24 - State Meet (away) - 11:00 a.m.
