The Becker girls gymnastics team has started the season on a roll, beating RPHF Thursday and taking first place in their own invitational last Saturday.

 

 

The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 on the young season, beating Rush City/Pine City/Hinckley-Finlayson at home Thursday night.

 

Becker’s vault performance was highlighted by superb hits from Katie Wilke and Miranda O'Brien.  

 

“Wilke's first vault was the best vault I've ever seen her do and she scored a personal best score of 9.325,” said Head Coach Jen Harmoning.  

 

Becker swept the top five places on the event.

 

1).(tie) Wilke and O'Brien, 9.325; 3). Hannah Schmidt, 9.175; 4). Haley Olsen, 8.875; 5). Kassidy Severson, 8.8.

 

“Bars was slightly improved from our last meet,” said Harmoning. “Olsen is working on a new dismount that she hasn't been able to land yet in competition, but she will soon and that will really bring her routine to a higher level.”  

 

Becker’s other four girls on bars have been very solid and Harmoning is grateful that she can count on them to do their jobs.

 

1). Marlee Louden, 8.6; 2). (tie) Schmidt and Olsen, 8.5; 4).  Christeva Perrotti, 8.325 (RPHF); 5). Keyara Berube, 8.15 (RPHF).

 

“We really struggled to put together top-notch beam routines this evening,” said Harmoning.  “The team is very nervous and jittery in competition.  We really need to work on this.”  

 

Harmoning says her team works the beam very beautifully in practice, but they need to learn how to bring that same  confidence out during competitions.  

 

1). Schmidt, 8.825; 2). O'Brien, 8.65; 3). Nevaeh Isaacson-Rod, 8.45 (RPHF); 4). Elsie Lundquist, 8.0 (RPHF); 5). Louden, 7.975.

 

Harmoning said there were a couple of struggles on floor, but Haley Hubbard provided a nice highlight, turning in a really great performance.

 

“We still have some work to do with making sure all our jumps get credit for their full difficulty,” Harmoning said.  “I am always reminding myself that we are still very early in the season and the kids are still working on routine endurance.”

 

1). Hubbard, 9.25; 2).  O'Brien, 9.0; 3). Isaacson-Rod, 8.8 (RPHF); 4). Schmidt, 8.6; 5). Lundquist, 8.575 (RPHF).

 

1). Schmidt, 35.1; 2). Isaacson-Rod, 33.525 (RPHF); 3). Lundquist, 32.6 (RPHF).

 

Heading into their first meet of the season, Harmoning and the girls gymnastics team’s goal was to try to put together four events without any major mishaps.  

“We were not thinking about the placement or even worrying about that,” she said.  “This being our first meet and knowing that we have four high school athletes sitting out with injuries, we just wanted to start off the season with a solid performance.”

 

And start out strong they did!

 

With Aubree Lahr, Lindsay Olsen, Lexi Michels and Kylee Pudas out with leg injuries, Harmoning’s young, but talented squad put on a performance as if they’d been competing together as a team for half a year.

 

At home last Saturday, the Becker Bulldog gymnastics team beat out seven other teams to capture first place.

 

“To end up winning the invitational was really fun and a special moment for us,” said Harmoning.

 

1). Becker, 140.55;

2). Melrose, 139.9;

3). Willmar, 138.2;

4). North Branch, 135.4;

5). STMA, 126.75;

6). Farmington, 121.7;

7). HLWW, 113.8;

8). Sauk Rapids, 108.1.

 

Becker began the day  on vault with what Coach Harmoning said was an “okay” performance for her girls.  

 

“This event should be a real strength for us this season, but we need to capitalize on it more,” she said. 

 

1). Haley Mottinger of Willmar, 9.6; 2). Kayla Austing of Melrose, 9.45; 3).  Miranda O'Brien of Becker, 9.4; 4). (tie) Hannah Schmidt of Becker, 9.35; 8). Katie Wilke of Becker, 9.25; 9). (tie) Haley Olsen of Becker, 9.1.

 

Harmoning says bars is not an event that she considers to be one of her team’s strengths, but it was the event they gained the most over the other top teams at this event.  

 

“We know we still have a lot of work to do on this event, but our team managed to hold themselves together pretty well and it really helped us come up with the win today,” she said.

 

1). Mady Brinkman of Melrose, 9.0; 2). Schmidt, 8.5; 3).- H. Olsen, 8.3; 5). (tie) Haley Hubbard and Marlee Louden of Becker, 8.1.

 

“On beam we certainly weren't perfect, but once again we stayed consistent and didn't have any major mishaps,” said Harmoning.  “We missed some of our connection values and bonus points that we will definitely need to improve on in the future.  Overall, I was quite pleased with the team's ability to approach beam with a calm and confident attitude.”  

 

A highlight for the beam routine was Becker’s Miranda O'Brien, who overcame a nasty fall at the end of the touch-warm-up during her tumbling series.  The warmup ended and there wasn't time for her to try once more or to ease the jitters.

 

She showed her toughness, though, when it came to be her turn to go. She attacked her routine with confidence, stuck her tumbles and scored a personal best 9.3 — giving her a tie for first place in the event.

 

Harmoning says it’s always fun for our team to finish on floor at home meets, so the girls were ready to go out and give a good show.  

 

“We have more difficulty that we plan to use, but for now we wanted to stick with what was safe and sure and it really paid off for us,” she said.

 

1). Mottinger, 9.65; 2). Schmidt, 9.45; 3). (tie) O'Brien; 8). Hubbard, 9.1.

 

Becker’s Hannah Schmidt took second in the all-around with 35.6 behind Willmar’s Mottinger, who finished with 35.95. Wilke placed eighth with an all-around score of 33.75 in her first ever high school meet.

 

“We are looking forward to competing Saturday (today) at the Annandale Holiday Invitational, and then we have a dual meet at Maple Lake on Tuesday,” said Harmoning.