Trunk, Hovland and Thomsen perform at state

For Katy Trunk and Sam Thomsen, the state tournament is no longer intimidating.

Trunk, who is only a sophomore at North Branch, was part of the field last year in gymnastics. Thomsen, a Chisago Lakes senior, was also part of the gymnastics field last year, but she’s also been to three state diving tournaments. The event itself wasn’t going to beat the two girls this year, but the steep competition in Class A didn’t do them many favors.

Trunk qualified in the all around at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion, and she ended up finishing in 23 place overall with a score of 35.1875. She started out strong in the vault, scoring a 9.300. Unfortunately, the competition at the state tourney is tough and her vault was in the middle of the pack after all 32 all-arounders had been tallied. Trunk’s middle routines are her tough ones. She scored an 8.350 in the uneven bars and then followed that up with an 8.300 on the balance beam. Despite being good scores for her, that is where most girls that finished in front of her pulled away. She did, however, end her routines by sticking a 9.350 on the floor exercise. She finished 15th in the vault overall and 13th in the floor.

Thomsen qualified for two events out of sections, the uneven bars and the balance beam. On the bars, she scored an 8.6750, putting her in 24th place out of the 32 competitors. On the balance beam, an event that Thomsen has really began to shine in this season, the senior scored a 9.0250 to finish in 18th place out of the 32 competitors. The meet signaled the end of Thomsen’s gymnastics career, one in which she was consistently CL’s top scorer and qualified for two straight state tournament appearances. Thomsen’s acumen on the mats will be sorely missed by the Wildcats next year.

Casey Hovland of North Branch also qualified for the state tourney in one event. She was part of the floor exercise crew. The junior had an impressive showing, scoring a 9.075 in the event. This was Hovland’s first experience at the tournament, and she is looking to continue her growth throughout the off season to come back even stronger next year. Sela Fadness of Austin won the all-around meet with a score of 38.575. She finished first or second in each event.