The Becker Bulldog girls gymnastics team traveled to Melrose last Saturday to compete in the True Team Invitational.
Becker finished fifth out of 10 teams.
In this competition, all five scores on each event count toward the team total (normally the team total is comprised of the top four scores on each event). There are no individual places recognized because of the team-centric format.
The latest rankings heading into the meet had Becker ranked in seventh place, so for them to finish in fifth place was a great accomplishment.
“The results actually took me by surprise,” said Head Coach Jen Harmoning. “A pleasant surprise because I knew at the completion of the meet that we hadn't given a stellar performance. A lot of teams felt like they could have done better, though, so I guess that sort of put us all in a position to make the top five. I think we were able to grab that spot because of the high quality of our fifth gymnast on each event.”
Floor Exercise
Becker began the day on floor, which is a good event to start on, says Harmoning “since you can have a lot of extra energy and still be okay.”
The Bulldog athletes had five solid routines, but the nerves showed up with most of the girls having a lot of extra hops and steps. The judging was pretty strict too, so Becker didn't have top-notch scores, but Harmoning was grateful the girls didn't have any major falls or mistakes.
Becker scores on floor:
Hannah Schmidt (9.25); Kylee Pudas (9.0); Lindsay Olsen (8.975); Haley Hubbard (8.925); Miranda O'Brien (8.7).
Vault Exercise
Vault was the team’s second event. The Bulldogs are still without the services of Kassidy Severson.
“I don't know if it was nerves or if something was different than our vaulting set-up, but several of the girls struggled with their approach,” said Harmoning. “This made for a stressful warm-up before the event. Luckily, most of the girls were able to pull through during the competition and stand up at least one attempt, but we did end up having to count one fall.”
Becker scores on vault:
Schmidt (9.4); O'Brien (9.2); Hubbard (8.9); Haley Olsen (8.7); Lindsay Olsen (8.65).
Uneven Bars Exercise
“I was pleased overall with our bars,” said the head coach. “We did have to count one fall, but it was a fall on a new skill and sometimes that happens when the gymnasts haven't had enough competitive experience with a skill yet.”
Harmoning is sure her team is definitely progressing in the right direction on this event.
“We just need to work really hard on cleaning up the execution of our routines and we should be able to show some great results here,” she said.
Becker scores on bars:
Haley Olsen (8.675); Lindsay Olsen (8.425); Hubbard (8.35); Marlee Louden (8.325); Schmidt (8.225).
Beam Exercise
Harmoning said finishing up on beam “can be tough sometimes because one needs to make sure one doesn't let their mind relax after a very long day of warming up and competing.”
“I think we lost focus a little bit,” she said. “We also had four of our five beamers new to being in this position in such a huge meet, so it didn't surprise me to see more falls than we should have.”
Harmoning plans to spend the next three weeks practicing these routines over and over again until the girls can pretty much do them in auto-pilot so that they are able to handle being in this position in the future.
“We really missed Megan Murphy and Lexi Reichle in this line-up,” said Harmoning. “The alternates did a great job giving their best, but Megan and Lexi have that experience to draw from and are normally our top two beam workers.”
Becker scores on beam:
O'Brien (8.9); Schmidt (8.5); Louden (8.35); Lindsay Olsen (8.325); Hubbard (8.2).
Team Scores:
1). Detroit Lakes, 184.4; 2). Melrose, 180.8; 3). Perham, 177.25; 4). Watertown-Mayer, 176.975; 5). Becker, 173.975; 6). Willmar, 173.475; 7). Austin, 171.375; 8). Sartell, 169.975; 9). Jackson County Central, 167.775; 10). Worthington, 164.875.
The girls traveled to Rush City Friday for a 6 p.m. meet (full report on meet in next week’s Citizen), then they host the Granite Ridge Conference championships next Saturday (Feb. 7) at noon.
