BEA gymnasts compete in Mankato Invite
Team of young athletes getting some good early season experience
The Blue Earth Area gymnastics team began their competitive season with two meets which were two days apart. The first meet was a dual meet against Luverne on Dec. 5 while the second competition was the Mankato Invite on Dec. 7, which featured a total of six teams.
Mankato Invite
Mankato East grabbed the top spot in the varsity competition with a score of 137.6. Mankato West had 134.35 points to narrowly edge Austin, who had 134.325 points, for second place. A team comprised of New Ulm public, New Ulm Area Catholic and Minnesota Valley Lutheran schools finished fourth with 129.275, St. Peter was fifth with 127.7 and BEA was sixth with 122.475.
“This meet went OK, but not as good as our first meet,” BEA head coach Rachel Cole commented. “It really came down to our performance on beam. Our bars and floor scores were almost identical from our Thursday meet to this meet. We struggled to stay on the beam at Mankato and counted several falls at a deduction of .5 each. It was a new invite for us and we got to see several of the top teams from our section compete.”
The Bucs’ top performer in the vault was Tailor Douglas with a score of 8.425 which put her in a tie for 10th place. Parker Stallman finished 14th with 8.325, Kyannah Brandt was 20th with 8.0, MaLeah Osmundson was 21st with 7.950 and Cassandra Hagedorn was 23rd with 7.7.
Douglas also topped the Bucs on bars with a score of 7.9 to finish eighth. Stallman was 14th with 7.5, Osmundson was 19th with 7.2, Brynlee Amundson was 20th with 7.150 and Audrey Schonborn was 23rd with 6.625.
In the beam event, it was Douglas who once again had the top score for BEA. The senior had an 8.025 to finish 10th. Stallman was 23rd with 7.05, Osmundson was 25th with 6.575, Hagedorn was 28th with 6.075 and Taylynn Amundson was 29th with 5.05.
Stallman led BEA in floor with an 8.475 to finish 15th. Osmundson was 20th with 8.15, Taylynn Amundson was 22nd with 7.925, Hagedorn was 23rd with 7.75 and Brynlee Amundson was 25th with 7.45.
Stallman placed 17th in the all-around with 31.35 and Osmundson was 18th with 29.35.
“We were missing Kailey Boettcher from our varsity lineup, and she will be out for the next couple of weeks due to illness,” Cole said. “But this will give an opportunity to the other girls to take a shot at a varsity spot.”
Junior Varsity
The BEA junior varsity girls placed third at the meet behind Mankato West and the New Ulm schools.
The top performers for the Bucs in the junior varsity meet were Ella Schonborn who finished third in the all-around scoring with 28.3 and Amaya Mensing who was fifth in the all-around with 25.4.
Luverne 132.375,
BEA 125.850
The Bucs traveled to Luverne on Dec. 5 for their first gymnastics meet of the season.
“I was really impressed with the girls’ performance in the first competition,” BEA head coach Rachel Cole said. “They went into practice nervous on Wednesday, but were dialed in for Thursday and finished with a 125.85, which is one of our best season openers since I’ve been with the program.”
Tailor Douglas finished second on the bars with 8.0, Brynlee Amundson and MaLeah Osmundson tied for fourth with 7.15 and Parker Stallman was fifth with 7.075.
The floor results showed Stallman with the top score for BEA. Her score of 8.7 was good for a second-place tie. Osmundson was fourth with 8.1, Taylynn Amundson was fifth with 8.0 and Kailey Boettcher was seventh with 7.825.
Leading the Bucs on vault was Stallman with the second-place score of 8.9. Douglas was fourth with 8.725, Osmundson was eighth with 8.475 and Cassandra Hagedorn was ninth with 8.350.
In beam, Douglas scored an 8.0 to finish in fifth place. Boettcher and Hagedorn tied for seventh with identical scores of 7.23 and Stallman finished eighth with 6.9.
Stallman’s total score of 31.575 put her in third place in the all-around.
Junior Varsity
BEA defeated Luverne in the junior varsity meet 110.050 to 105.350.
The Bucs’ top gymnasts for the junior varsity meet were Ella Schonborn who finished second in the all-around with a score of 26.450 and Khloe McGowen, who was third in the all-around with a score of 24.5.