Vikings crush school record, finish fifth at state

Every coach preaches to their athletes that they need to be performing the best when the season is coming to an end. There’s nothing left to give and there’s nothing more to practice. It’s just the athlete and their speciality, and if they’re lucky, the state tournament. The North Branch girls gymnastics team heeded that advice from coaches Barb Burdick and Bri McClaskie and had the meet of their lifetime at the state tournament on February 21-22 at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion.

North Branch began the weekend with the team competition on Friday, February 21 and they just nailed everything they tried. “We were able to start on vault, which is our best event and the normal rotation of a gymnastics meet, so that was really nice for us,” McClaskie said. The girls didn’t disappoint on the vault, scoring a school-record 37.175, highlighted by Katy Trunk’s 9.525 and Megan Mahoney’s 9.45. The next two events is where the Vikings knew their state tournament placing would come down to. Typically, the uneven bars and balance beam have been the team’s Achilles heel. But Mahoney, a senior, wouldn’t allow the Vikes to be undone on the bars. Leading a charge of girls that stuck their routines, Mahoney had the round of a lifetime, scoring a 9.825 with two 9.9’s mixed in. The amazing routine gave the girls a 36.1 on the uneven bars and put them into a good spot heading into the balance beam. Again, everything clicked for the Lady Vikes on the beam. Two huge routines from Mahoney and Trunk led the way while Alexys Olson, Mikayla Johnson and Casey Hovland all scored 8.825 and above, giving them another school record in an event, a 36.625 in the beam.

The Vikings were well on their way to a school record at that point, it was just a matter of how much they would beat it by after floor, one of their strongest events. They earned a 36.4 in the event, leaving them with 146.300 points, more than four points ahead of the previous record they had set earlier this year. “At the start of the season, we just wanted to break 140 points and make it to the state tournament,” McClaskie explained. “I never thought this was possible!” The girls finished in fifth place with their score. Melrose won the event with a 149.575. New Prague, Detroit Lakes and Austin, all gymnastics powerhouses, finished ahead of the Vikings. “We just worked our routines, knew what we wanted to do and put it all together at the right time,” McClaskie said of the team effort. “This has just been the best group of girls I’ve ever coached. They got along, showed up every day and worked their tails off.” Trunk followed her amazing performance in the team event with an equally amazing run on the individual championship day. The junior finished second in the individual vault and sixth in the all-around.

“She just stuck a huge vault,” McClaskie said, scoring a 9.6125 in the event and only losing out to last year’s defending state champion Sela Fadness of Austin, who scored 9.775. Trunk finished in the top 11 in all four events, which led to her sixth place finish in the all-around. She scored a 37.575. McClaskie said, “Katy had the meet of her life two days in a row.” Mahoney had a nice routine on the bars, but she didn’t quite execute it like she had the day before in the team event. She scored a 9.125, good for 15th place overall in the uneven bars. Her score from the Friday team meet would’ve blown away the field and earned her a state championship on Saturday. We want to thank all the businesses, families and fans,” McClaskie said. “The support for us was amazing and the girls couldn’t have done it without that support. The community really got excited for the girls, and that helped them perform at the state tournament.”