Haus gained state in the all-around while Hubbard and Edling went for floor exercise.

 

For the past several years, the teams from Becker and Big Lake have represented Section 7A at state with Big Lake making it as a team in the last two years. Before that, it was Becker representing the section.

 

Head Coach Jen Harmoning can't guarantee a flip-flop between the Hornets and Bulldogs this year, but feels her team has as good a chance as any - despite their youth and inexperience.

 

"I'm excited this year to see where these girls end up," she said. "We're really young again but they should be fun to watch and a couple will probably break out and have pretty good years."

 

Some of that "youth" that surfaced last year (besides Hubbard and Edling) were Hannah Schmidt (sophomore), Megan Murphy (junior) and Haley Olsen (sophomore). Throw in seniors Kassidi Andres and Sabrina Tiemans - along with emergence of sophomore Lexi Reichle and ninth-grader Olsen and Harmoning's squad looks like it could compete, if not at least entertain, in the tough Granite Ridge Conference and vie for state once again.

 

Harmoning will be assisted by mainstay Kendra Hubbard and newcomer Autumn Robinson, who just two years ago was a senior on the team, a state entrant and MVP of the squad in 2011.  Former assistant Josh McDonald is now an off-season coach for the Bulldog gymnasts team.

 

Robinson, who went on to college at Winona State to compete in gymnastics, suffered a critical injury going into her freshman year that all but derailed her gymnastics career. She decided to take some time off from school this year to re-evaluate her future and landed the job with Harmoning with the hopes it is a long-term deal.

 

"I would love for this opportunity to last beyond this year or the next," she said. "I thoroughly enjoy being back home and working with these young kids and teaching them all I learned from Jen over the years."

 

In the offseason, Becker had to say goodbye to 2013 graduate Alyssa Haus, who was a motivational captain and strong on vault, bars, beam and floor competition. Haus' example and leadership will be hard to replace as the team looks to one or more of the youngsters to step to the forefront and assume key roles on the team.

 

“We have an enthusiastic, young team this year with lots of new faces,” said Harmoning, who is in her 14th year as head coach. “I’m excited to see what we are capable of accomplishing this year. One of our main goals is just keeping everyone healthy. If we can do that, everything else is a bonus.”

 

Harmoning has had to deal with several health setbacks over the years including devastating injuries to some superb talent (Alyssa Fladebo, Caitlyn Roemer, Maria Zimmerman and Haus last year) and has also seen a couple stars move on to other schools (Fladebo and Brooke Brower). Fladebo and Brower for sure would have moved up to leadership roles and kept the gymnastics program competitive while big stars graduated.

 

"Every year, the goal is the same," said Harmoning. "We want to qualify for state, go there and do the very best we can."

 

Harmoning said she believes perennial powers like Big Lake, Melrose, Detroit Lakes and Perham will again be the teams to beat during the year, with the Hornets again being the roadblock to state for her young squad. 

 

The season began Dec. 3 at Princeton (see story below) and their first home meet is today (Saturday) with teams from Willmar, STMA, Melrose, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Howard Lake-Waverly, Columbia Heights and Farmington competing. 

 

 

Sophomore Hannah Schmidt won the all-around competition with a score of 31.05 and the Bulldogs began their season in a positive way, beating the Tigers 128.475 to 112.175 Tuesday night.

 

The gymnasts went into their first meet of the year at Princeton after “having a horrible week of preparation”, said Head Coach Jen Harmoning.

“Due to Thanksgiving break, then the horrible news Monday (Nelson car accident) which affected most of the team's ability to practice that day, we just decided to water down on our difficulty where necessary,” she said. “We (took it as) a good opportunity to get out there and compete in front of judges and a crowd for the first time this season.”  

 

Harmoning said the vault routine was one event where they “watered down” the difficulty the most.  

They still took four of the top five places.

 

 

1). TIE - Sabrina Tiemens and Haley Hubbard - 8.3; 3). Haley Olsen - 8.25; 5).  Schmidt - 8.15.

 

Harmoning said her team is getting off to a bit of a slow start this season because they restructured their coaching staff and were unable to find a new spotter for the start of the season. 

 

“It's taking some time for the gymnasts with high difficulty vaults to gain confidence with the new coaches spotting them,” said Harmoning.  “It's something that will take time, but we will work through this situation and be strong by the end of the season.”  

 

Vault Scores: None

 

“The team did better on bars than I was expecting,” said Harmoning. “So that pleased me quite a bit.”  

 

Becker lost two amazing bar workers from last season (Haus and Edling) and never had good depth.  

 

“I see some promising things happening in practice though,” said the head coach. “And we will keep working to improve this area.  If we want to have any post-season success, it will be absolutely necessary.”  

 

On Tuesday, Becker’s weakness on bars didn't let them down as they took all top five places.

 

 

1). Olsen - 8.05; 2). Schmidt - 7.65; 3). Megan Murphy - 7.3 4).  Hubbard - 7.3; 5). Montanna Edling - 6.75.

 

“I was slightly disappointed with our beam performance overall, even though it was the first meet and early-season jitters are to be expected,” said Harmoning.  “I actually felt bad for the kids because they have been looking really strong on this event in practices but it failed to show in competition.”   Harmoning expects her girls to overcome their jitters and gain more confidence as each event occurs. The girls took four of the top five places, with Princeton's Ratana Powers taking first place with a score of 8.175.

 

 

2). Murphy - 8.075; 3). Lexi Reichle - 7.95; 4). Edling - 7.45 5). Tiemens - 7.4.

 

Floor was a bright spot for the team even after they “watered down” some of their difficulty. Despite that, there were just a few falls and mistakes.  

“Still, I can see lots of promise on this event,” Harmoning said. “Princeton does have an extremely difficult floor to get used to which the girls handled pretty well.”   Once again, Becker took the top five places.

 

 

1). Hubbard - 8.85; 2). Schmidt - 8.625; 3). Murphy - 8.425; 4). Edling - 8.4; 5). Reichle - 8.125.