February 26, 2015 at 1:42 p.m.
North Branch gymnasts finish fourth at state tournament
North Branch gymnasts finish fourth at state tournament
They are making their second straight trip to the state tournament, and they’ve been able to bump up from fifth place last year to fourth place this year. The finish took some gutsy performances from the girls, and still then, they were just fractions ahead of the fifth and sixth place team.
“During the team competition, last year it was all fun, and we were just excited to have made it,” Head Coach Barb Burdick said. “This year the girls and probably myself, had expectations. It was still a great time but the team was just a little more serious.”
The Vikings got their team competition started on the floor exercise. They scored 36.20, riding two nice scores from Katy Trunk and Keeley Ertl. Trunk notched a 9.25 while Ertl scored 9.175.
Annie Gladitsch and Mikayla Johnson also had nice scores. Gladitsch scored an 8.9 while Johnson chipped in an 8.850.
The girls then took to the vault runway, which is their strongest event.
They didn’t disappoint, with three of the five gymnasts registering scores over nine and another coming very close.
Trunk led the Vikes with a 9.45 and Ertl was just behind with a 9.325. Johnson scord a 9.10 while Alexys Olson had an individual vault over nine, but her average landed at 8.925. Maranda Nelson added an 8.55 for the Lady Vikes.
The third rotation for the Vikings was the uneven bars. Trunk was again the leader for NB, scoring a 9.150. Olson put together a strong performance to score 8.7 and Gladitsch had a nice 8.375. Johnson rounded out scoring with a 7.75.
On the balance beam, the girls took their lumps at times. The beam is the most difficult event to conquer. Trunk had a beautiful run, finishing with a 9.375 as the top scorer for NB. Ertl scored 8.75, Johnson 8.525, Nelson an 8.425 and Olson an 8.350.
The girls scored 142.850, which put them in fourth place, narrowly. They beat out fifth place Becker by .025 points and sixth place Austin by .200 points.
Detroit Lakes had the top score, registering a 150.025, while Melrose finished second with a 149.20. Watertown-Mayer finished third with a tally of 145.725.
In the individual performances, Trunk finished eighth in the vault event with a score of 9.50 while Johnson finished 12th with a 9.4375. Ertl finished 22nd with a score of 9.2875.
Trunk grabbed a 13th place finish in the uneven bars with an 8.925. Olson finished 18th in the event with an 8.7125. Ertl, who was part of the event because she qualified in the all around, scored a. 8.4.
On the beam, Trunk finished 18th with a score of 8.7375. Johnson finished 24th, tallying an 8.2250. As part of the all around, Ertl scored an 8.8750, tops among the Vikings in the event.
On the floor exercise, Ertl came in 16th with a score of 9.2375 while Trunk came in 27th with an 8.8375 mark.
In the all around, Trunk, who is a senior and was competing in her last high school meet, came in 16th place with a score of 35.950. Ertl, only a freshman, wasn’t far behind with a score of 35.800, good enough for 19th place overall.
“The girls started out in warm-ups very strong, but as the competition proceeded it was easy to see that they are not used to two straight day of competition,” Burdick said. “Although they finished above the average gymnasts in the competition, we know we could have done better!”
She was thrilled, though, about the two year run the Vikings have been on, with two top five finishes in a row. But with a young team outside of Trunk, their performances should continue to grow and improve.
Comments:
Commenting has been disabled for this item.