Despite not winning a state title at the University of Minnesota’s Pavillion Feb. 24 (sixth place finish), the Becker Bulldogs still had three gymnasts vying for individual state titles the next day, Feb. 25. Haley Hubbard and Kassidy Severson competed on floor, while Miranda O’Brien competed in the all-around.

 

Hubbard finished in 19th place on floor with a score of 9.375.

 

Not too bad for a girl performing on a damaged foot.

 

During morning warm-ups at 8:30 a.m., Hubbard experienced a bad landing and jammed her toes on her left foot during a tumbling pass.  She finished the warm-up, but spent most of the morning icing her foot after that.  

 

When she finally hit the competition floor at around 11:15 a.m., she was all smiles and tried to put the pain out of her mind. She dazzled, as always, on her routine and finished with a smiler.  However, the next day she ended up needing to see a doctor about her foot and she learned that she'd broken two toes. By the end of the day she was in a walking cast, still smiling.

 

Severson was Becker’s other floor performer and she finished 26th with a score of 9.2.

 

“Kassidy did a really beautiful floor routine,” said Head Coach Jen Harmoning.  “If there's one thing she really loves, it's putting on a complete show on floor.”  

 

Unfortunately for Severson, the music “cut out” not far into her routine.  Harmoning said the gymnasts have no control over the music at that point, so she just had to continue doing her routine the best she could without the music.  

 

“By the end, she had pretty much the entire arena clapping for her,” said Harmoning.  “It certainly wasn't the final routine she expected to be giving, but it was special in its own way, and I'm pretty sure she'll remember that experience for the rest of her life.”

 

“Miranda (O’Brien) did a great job competing all the events today,” said Harmoning.  “She's been struggling recently with her confidence on beam and she suffered a nasty fall the day before during the team competition.  She ended up being a bit wobbly today, but she stayed on the beam and was able to feel pretty good about that.”  

 

O'Brien finished 18th on vault with a 9.4 score, and 21st in the all-around with a score of 35.725.

 

“She had a great vault and probably her best performances of the season on bars and floor,”said Harmoning. “It was a really good way for her to finish the year.  Being a junior, she also has that experience to draw from and keep her motivated over the long off-season to work hard and come back even better next season.”

 

Harmoning is proud of her girls as they put so much effort into their performances and so much time in the gym. The end result, competing at state, is all she can ask of her squad.

 

“We had a lot of fun, although it is really tough to compete that second day in a row,” she said.  “I could tell the girls were feeling a bit tired, but they were very grateful and excited to compete individually.”  

Harmoning says it is such a huge honor to compete in the individual state tournament.  

 

“Although we didn't win any medals that day, all of our gymnasts hit all of their routines,” she said. “It was a great ending to our season.”