Tailor Douglas performs her routine on the bars while some of her masked-up teammates are shown watching her. BEA has improved their team score every week and beat St. James for their first victory.

The Blue Earth Area gymnastics squad has improved their team score every time they have competed so far this season. They continued that trend last Monday, Feb. 1, against St. James and picked up their first win of the season with a 128.1-99.34 triumph over the Saints.

“It was exciting to win and to see the girls continue to improve each week,” BEA head coach Rachel Cole said. “For the past couple of seasons we have had terrible meets against St. James. It was good to break that trend and get a victory.”

The Bucs swept the vault with Addison Armstrong and Haley Kalis each scoring 8.55 to finish in a tie for first place. Tailor Douglas took second with a score of 8.325 and Adrianna Reddick was third with 8.1. Lizzy Uecker finished with a score of 7.95.

“Our vault scores were down a little from last week and we ended up a little short of our goal,” Cole commented. “But there were not any major errors.”

Armstrong added another first place finish on the bars with a 7.975. Kalis scored 7.725 to take second place and Douglas was third with 7.475. Jazmyn Lunz tallied a 7.25 and Annika Ihle had 7.2.

“These girls love working on the bars,” Cole said. “It did not take us nearly as long to get back to where we were last season as I thought it would. Now, we continue moving forward and adding new skills.”

BEA had their best performance of the year on the beam against the Saints.

“We had half as many falls and we hit our goal of 30 as a team,” Cole noted. “We have a little break in competition and will be working on some new things. Mostly, we just need to get a lot more repetition in.”

Douglas was once again the top scorer for the Bucs on the beam. Her score of 8.075 put her in first place. Armstrong claimed the second spot with a score of 7.75. Other beam results for BEA were Jazmyn Lunz with 7.2, Lauren Survis with 6.975 and Haley Kalis with 6.65.

The Maroon and Gold also swept the floor rotation with Armstrong and Kalis once again finishing in a tie for first place with 8.8 points. Douglas took second with 8.35 and Uecker was third with 8.2. Survis finished with 7.6.

“I usually do not worry about floor,” Cole mentioned. “The girls seem to be more relaxed when competing in the floor rotation.”

Armstrong finished with a score of 33.075 to take first place in the all-around. Douglas took second with 32.225 and Kalis grabbed third place with 31.725.

The junior varsity team also had a good meet. Survis won the vault with a score of 8.0. Uecker took first on bars with 7.2. Annika Ihle placed first on beam with 6.5 and Lunz garnered first place on floor with 7.65.

Maddie Dulac took first place in the junior varsity all-around with a 27.75. Hadleigh Anderson was second with a 26.3.

The gymnastic’s team has a small break from competing and does not return to action again until they travel to St. Peter to take on the Saints on Friday, Feb. 12.

MCA 132.55,

BEA 125.575

The Martin County Area Magic gymnastics team came to Blue Earth on Thursday, Jan. 28, and defeated the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers 132.55-125.575.

Although they did not obtain the victory, the Bucs continued to improve and raise their team score.

“The meet went great, except for the beam again,” Bucs head coach Rachel Cole said. “We had an excellent night on vault and bars. We swept the bars which has never happened for us.”

Addison Armstrong took first place on the bars with a score of 7.85. Haley Kalis finished second with 7.6 and Tailor Douglas’ score of 7.325 was good for third place. Jazmyn Lunz finished with 7.2 and Lizzy Uecker had 6.25. The top four scores in each event count toward the team total.

“Floor was also pretty good for us,” Cole commented. “We had just a few missed steps and falls.”

Kalis led the Bucs with an 8.7 on the floor which was good for second place. Armstrong scored 8.55, Douglas 8.425, Uecker 8.25 and Lauren Survis 7.5.

Kalis also led the team in the vault rotation of the meet. She had an 8.825. Armstrong finished with an 8.75, Douglas had 8.55, Adrianna Reddick tallied an 8.2 and Uecker had 7.975.

Like the team’s earlier meets, the beam continued to be BEA’s weakest rotation.

“Beam was the same story,” Cole noted. “We are working on things, but we are open to suggestions as to how to stay on. After our meet on Monday (Feb. 1), we get a little break in the competition and are looking forward to being able to work on new things.”

Douglas once again had the only clean routine on the beam. She finished with a score of 7.5 followed by Kalis who scored a 7.0. Armstrong had a 6.95 while Lunz and Survis each had a score of 5.9.

BEA had two gymnasts place in the all-around. Kalis took second place with 32.125 points and Armstrong was third with 32.1. Douglas did not place but was close behind with a score of 31.8.

The junior varsity had two girls, Reddick and Hadleigh Anderson, who placed in the vault. Anderson also took third place in the all-around with 26.1 points.