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The measuring stick within the Mississippi 8 Conference, and quite frankly a good one for the rest of the state, is the Cambridge-Isanti gymnastics squad. They have been conference and section champions too many times  to count and they consistently churn out high-level talent each year.

So, it wasn’t so much a surprise to the North Branch gymnastics team when they fell to the Bluejackets on Thursday, January 28, but it was a good litmus test for the Vikings to se where they are at as a team early in the season.

The Bluejackets won 137.0-129.225, but Paige Bauer and Dakota Esget finished in second and third in the all around. They each had  a second place event finish, with Esget earning second in the vault, and Bauer got second on the beam.

Bekah Fish improved her floor routine dramatically from the season opener and came in fourth place.  Ceriann Istvanovich had a solid floor routine according to Head Coach Mikayla Johnson and Libby Nielson did great on vault. Johnson also pointed out that Shaeyna Andreotti improved her vault score pretty dramatically from the first meet.

“As the first away meet comes around, it is good to see what the girls are able to do when we are not at our home,” Johnson said after traveling to Cambridge-Isanti. “The gymnasts came with attitudes of wanting to improve from the first meet and in many different ways and places they did! The scores may not have been where they were wanting them to be, but I am seeing many improvements in routines.  It was great to see the improvements in some routines as well as the added skills that they completed well. We now have two meets under our belt and are ready for two more away meets this week!”

The Vikings traveled to Chisago Lakes to take on their county rival, the Wildcats, on Tuesday, February 2, and they’ll take on Princeton in a varsity dual on Saturday, February 6.    
    

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