Murphy scored a personal best all-around score of 35.175, Hubbard a personal best floor score (9.35) and Youngdahl personal best scores on beam (7.35) and all-around (30.65-JV).

 

 

“Starting a competition on balance beam is never easy,” said Head Coach Jen Harmoning. “It's nice to have beam over and done with, but it can be really difficult to control all the nervous energy coming right out of the gate.”  

 

Harmoning said she thought her team handled the pressures fairly well, only having to count one fall in the final score.  

 

“We had a lot more wobbles and wiggles than we'd like, though, causing us to miss some valuable connection points,” she said.   With the section meet looming this weekend, Harmoning seems concerned because her squad will be finishing the meet on beam, which could be just as troubling as starting the meet that way.

 

“It's not an easy event to end with either because sometimes the pressure can just become too much,” she said.  “That's why folks in the gymnastics world know that beam is the event that often makes or breaks the competition.”

 

 

“We still weren't perfect on floor, but we sure were pretty good,” Harmoning said.  

 

Floor is this team's strongest event and though there were a lot of struggles from the team during the warm-ups - which surprised the head coach — the competition went smoothly despite the anxiousness.  

 

“It's good to see that the girls can have some struggles but be able to put it behind them and turn in a strong performance regardless,” Harmoning said.

 

 

Harmoning was very pleased with how her girls performed on vault.  Kassidi Andres was a key player as she stuck her difficult vault which allowed the Bulldogs to include a higher fourth score in their team total.  

 

“All of the girls have been doing a superb job on vault,” said the head coach.  “We just keep working away on the little things to make them cleaner and stronger.”

 

 

Even though the girls didn't score a season-high total, Harmoning believes the gymnasts had their best team performance on bars.   “Everyone hit their routines strongly and did a really great job,” she said.  “It was a nice high note to end the day with.”

 

Final Scores: 1). Becker 138.825; 2). RPHF 134.125; 3). Little Falls 125.725; 4). Maple Lake 124.300; 5). Rockford 122.600; 6). HLWW 113.950.

 

 

Saturday (today) the girls travel to Princeton to compete in the section tournament. In the recent rankings, Sartell is ranked #1 followed by Big Lake. Becker is third, then Monticello and Annandale.

 

“The rankings don't always tell the whole story, though,” said Harmoning.  “We're going to give it our best shot and see where we can end up.  Regardless of the results, I'm really proud of this team and how far they've come this season.  It's been an exciting season of growth.”