Gymnasts Place At Helena Meet
The Mount Helena Open Gymnastics meet was the second meet of the season for the Eastern Montana Gymnastics Team on Sunday, Jan. 31. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the meet was held over three days and had 13 sessions that included smaller numbers of competitors. Seven of EMG’s silver gymnasts competed in the Silver B session, while seven Gold EMG gymnasts competed in the Gold A session. The EMG team won nine first places and the Gold team ended in third place out of all the seven teams in both sessions.
Winning first places were Jill Deserly of Wolf Point, Sage Sportsman of Glendive, Shelica Deserly of Wolf Point, Jada Sportsman of Glendive and Ashlynn Johannessen of Wolf Point.
Gold gymnasts Deserly, Sportsman and Deserly competed in the older division of nine girls, with Deserly winning the all-around, Sportsman took first in uneven bars and balance beam and Deserly earned first in vault. Deserly tied for second on vault, second on bars, tied for fourth on beam and fifth on floor. Sportsman tied for second for her all-around and was fourth on floor. Deserly was fourth for her all-around and was third on uneven bars.
Competing in the Gold younger division of eight girls, Sportsman had first places for her all-around, uneven bars and floor, with second place on beam and a tie for first on vault. Teammate Aspen Boje of Glendive finished tied for third for her allaround, vault and beam and was third on floor. Ava Hove of Circle was second on floor and was tied for second on uneven bars. Kendra Linder of Glendive added a tie for fourth on floor and a tie for fifth on vault.
In the middle division of the silver gymnasts, out of 12 gymnasts, Johannessen had her first-place finish on the balance beam. She also was tied for third for vault and was sixth for her all-around. Nomi Deserly of Wolf Point also competed in that age group and was second on vault and tied for seventh on bars.
Three EMG gymnasts competed in the silver’s older division of 10 gymnasts. DaRae Deserly of Wolf Point was tied for second on bars and was fifth on vault, beam and for her all-around. Abbey Gibbs of Circle finished tied for fourth on floor, while her sister Ali was tied for third on beam.
In the younger division of 13 silver gymnasts, Emma Hove and Justine Massar, each of Circle, had their best showings on the balance beam with Hove finishing in seventh place and Masser in 10th.
This was the first competitive meet for Massar and it was the first meet of the season for Jill, Shelica, DaRae and Nomi Deserly and Abbey and Ali Gibbs. Besides the Circle gym, other teams at the meet were from Billings (two gyms), Kalispell, Conrad/ Great Falls, Helena (two gyms), Bozeman, Missoula (two gyms), Miles City, Livingston, Hamilton and Buffalo, Wyo.
Gold scores (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor, allaround): Jada Sportsman (9.2, 9.35, 8.8, 9.4, 36.75), Jill Deserly (9.3, 9.05, 8.9, 9.2, 36.45), Sage Sportsman (8.6, 9.1, 9.3, 9.25, 36.25), Shelica Deserly (9.35, 9.0, 8.7, 8.95, 36.0), Aspen Boje (9.0, 8.5, 8.35, 9.05, 34.9), Ava Hove (8.7, 8.75, 8.05, 9.1, 34.6), Kendra Linder (8.9, 7.5, 7.55, 9.0, 32.95) Silver scores: Ashlynn Johannessen (9.2, 8.95, 9.3, 8.85, 36.3), DaRae Deserly (9.2, 9.0, 9.05, 8.5, 35.75), Nomi Deserly (9.25, 9.0, 8.8, 8.55, 35.6), Abbey Gibbs (8.9, 8.4, 8.5, 9.0, 34.8), Ali Gibbs (8.9, 7.7, 9.1, 8.9, 34.6), Emma Hove (8.65, 8.5, 8.6, 8.65, 34.4), Justine Massar (8.75, 8.7, 8.25, 8.4, 34.1).
Six EMG gymnasts were unable to attend the Helena meet, but the entire team of 10 gymnasts is planning to attend the Watford City meet, which will follow the Billings meet.
