The Becker girls gymnastics team finished third and Hannah Schmidt sixth in the all-around as the Bulldogs traveled to Big Lake Saturday to compete in the Big Lake Tropical Twist Invitational.
East Ridge took home the first place prize with 138.95 points, followed by Big Lake (136.75) and Becker (136.1).
Schmidt finished the day with a career-high score of 34.9, giving her the sixth best score among athletes who competed on all four exercises. Becker’s Megan Murphy placed 11th with a score of 33.0.
“It was an up-and-down day for us,” said Head Coach Jen Harmoning. “Floor, vault, and bars were far from our best performances. However, we finished on beam in the final rotation, sticking all five routines which brought us right back up there and helped us earn a season-high team score.”
Floor Exercise
Becker began on floor with four of their five gymnasts struggling somewhat. “After having more than two weeks off since our last competition, you could tell that the girls were a little less confident,” said Harmoning.
Schmidt hit her routine well for a season-high score of 9.05 and seventh place overall. Haley Hubbard placed eighth with a score of 8.85, Murphy an 8.4, Montanna Edling an 8.3 and Lexi Reichle an 8.2.
Vault Exercise
Harmoning said she thought the team’s vaults were solid - not bad, not exceptional.
“In order to really improve scores here, we need to upgrade the difficulty of our vaults,” she said. Harmoning says each vault is assigned a start value and that is the highest score possible for that particular vault. Several of her squad’s vaults can score only a maximum of 9.2, which makes it difficult to compete against other schools that have higher-level vaults.
“I'm excited about some of the girls who are getting close to reaching a higher level here for future competitions,” said Harmoning.
Schmidt scored a 9.1 for eighth place, Hubbard and Murphy tied for 13th place with scores of 8.6, Sabrina Tiemens an 8.55 and Kassidi Andres an 8.5.
Bar Exercise
“We did not show our best bar routines today,” said the head coach. “Add to that a really tough bar judge. It was just a tough-scoring event for everybody today.”
Haley Olsen was Becker’s best gymnast, scoring an 8.25 and taking sixth place. Reichle took ninth place with a score of 7.75, Schmidt placed 13th with a 7.6, Hubbard a 7.45 and Murphy a 7.0.
Beam Exercise
“After the first three events being quite a bit inconsistent, I was a little worried to find out what beam would bring us in our final rotation,” said Harmoning. “The team gave us coaches a very pleasant surprise, however, when they stuck all of their routines.”
Harmoning said beam was a huge highlight for the day and salvaged the competition for them.
“Without it, we could have easily dropped to fourth or fifth place in the team results. I hope this helps the girls gain confidence on this event so that they can continue to compete well on beam in future meets.”
Schmidt placed fourth with a career high score of 9.15. Murphy placed sixth with a score of 9.0, Edling was 10th with a season-high score of 8.75, Sabrina Tiemens was 11th with an 8.7, Reichle was 13th with 8.6, also a career-high score.
The girls travel to Lakeville North today (Saturday) to take on the Panthers at noon before returning home to take on Rockford at 6 p.m. on Jan. 16.
