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Ties are common in some high school sports. You see them all the time in soccer and hockey and even swimming.

But one sport that spectators never expect a tie in is gymnastics, but that’s just what happened when North Branch and Chisago Lakes got together in a Mississippi 8 Conference clash on Tuesday, January 30.

“It was unbelievable! In my 20 years of coaching, I have never seen a tie in gymnastics,” Wildcat Head Coach Brett Kjos said. “With the last competitor on the floor, I had calculated if she scored a 9.5 or lower we would win. If she scored above that, we would take the loss. I never even considered a tie.”

That competitor was Dakota Esget, and she did just that, scoring a 9.525 on the floor to get the tie for North Branch at 137.375-137.375

Each team’s best score this season was razor thin this year, so they both knew coming in that it’d be a close meet, and it lived up to the billing. 

Chisago Lakes made up their points by outscoring North Branch by 1.3 points on the uneven bars, but a half point margin of victory on the vault and a near full point on the floor made up the difference as the teams were practically even on the beam, with CL scoring 33.550 and NB scoring 33.500.

The all around was a shootout betwen Ella Rhein and Esget, with CL’s Rhein getting the best of the match up. She scored a 36.4 while Esget came in second with a 35.650. Charlotte Johnson was third for the Wildcats with a 35.125 and Ella Dick and Libby Nielson were right behind, finishing with a 34.1 and 34.075, respectively.

Johnson set a personal record on uneven bars. “She has been working on a new dismount on bars, and she did it flawlessly,” Kjos said.

“This was a very fun meet,” Kjos said. “There’s still a little room for us to grow before the section meet.”

Sections are next up on the docket for both teams, and they are both a part of a nasty section that will be very competitive this year. 

But, the teams will get nearly two weeks to prepare their routines and add any moves to make the best of it.

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