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Chisago Lakes 138.525, St. Francis 128.175

It’s a rare, but great accomplishment when everything goes according to plan, especially in a high school gymnastics season.

At least in the regular season, that’s what has happened so far for the Chisago Lakes’ gymnastics team. The Wildcats just competed in their final regular season meet of the year and had a season high, and in fact, it was their highest team score in almost a half decade. “The girls have been working hard on upgrading their skills and it is starting to show,” Head Coach Brett Kjos said. “But, we still have room to grow.”

The girls hammered St. Francis with the high-scoring meet, beating the Saints 138.525-128.175. They stuck four of their five routines on the balance beam, broke the 35 point barrier on the floor exercise for the first time in many years – Kjos couldn’t recall the last time the team did that – and just looked sharp as they head into section prep.

Ella Rhein ran away with the all around title at the meet, scoring 36.125, beating teammates Charlotte Johnson, who had a 34.925, and Chelsea Stipe, who scored a 34.075. Rhein’s best event was the floor exercise, where she tied her personal record with a 9.50. Stipe also set a personal record on floor with an 8.975, which puts her right on the cusp of that vaunted 9.0 score so hard to attain in gymnastics

Johnson had her best meet of the year, setting a personal record on the uneven bars, the floor exercise and in the all around. Her new uneven bars bark is 8.4 and her floor score was 9.25. Addison Melquist also broke her personal best on the uneven bars by scoring an 8.2.

“I’m really excited for the section meet,” Kjos said of the competition Thursday, February 15, which is at the ‘Cats home gym. “It will be a battle. Monticello just won the True Team meet last week. Becker placed third and Big Lake was seventh. Three teams from our section are in the top 10, so only a few will advance. We’re going to need to be “on” for one night.”

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