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For the first time in three years, North Branch only had an individual representative at the state tournament, but she did the small town proud.

Keeley Ertl, a North Branch sophomore, earned a top 10 finish at the state tournament in the vault event and a top 20 all around finish.

Her meet opened with her best performance of the day on vault. She scored a 9.175 on the first vault before registering a 9.5 on her second vault. That second vault launched her up to a 9.475 average score and a ninth place finish.

On the uneven bars, Ertl had a nice run and finished in fourth among the all-around competitors. Her score would’ve put her in the top 20 with all the bars competitors.

On the balance beam, Ertl finished in sixth among the all-around participants with a score of 8.80.

In the floor exercise is where Ertl had troubles. She typically shines in the event but she went for some big moves and it didn’t pay off. She took a tumble on one of those big moves, and the judges dinged her a bit. She finished with an 8.5375, which put her in 29th place out of 31 competitors in the floor event.

When it came time to tally the all-around, Ertl finished with a 35.7375, which is a very nice score.

“Keeley did a great job competing on her own in the individual state competition.  As a prior club gymnast, she knows how to prepare for competition and be a competitive gymnast,” Head Coach Chris Johnson said. “Keeley was also supported by all her teammates, family and school administration at the state meet.  She went into the meet knowing in order to place she had to hit all of her skills and she added a few changes.  She hit all her routines but fell on a new skill on floor.  Keeley and I discussed that if she was ready for the new skills she could add them to her routines.  Throughout the year, Keeley was adding new skills and taking out skills that were not successful and continued to increase her scores.”

She’ll have a chance to keep improving on that score in future years as she has the talent and drive to keep climbing the standings and churning out consistent, flawless runs.

“Keeley was a strong competitor at the state gymnastics meet and increased her scores from last years state meet on all events except floor.  Her ninth place on vault was an increase from 22nd place last year,” Johnson explained. “Keeley was able to add value to her floor routine by adding a double back but landed on her knees during competition.  This is a floor skill most gymnasts don't attempt in high school and Keeley has the skill and determination to perform it.  Next year she will have more reps and time to perfect the skill!” 

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