Gymnasts Compete At Mandan Meet
Fifteen girls from the Eastern Montana Gymnastics Team traveled to Mandan on Jan. 22 and won two team trophies, four first-place allaround awards and seven first-place event awards.
The Circle gym’s Gold Team won the first-place trophy and the Silver Team won the third-place trophy. Richey’s Lina Smith, Wolf Point’s Ashlynn Johannessen and Circle’s Ava Hove and Ali Gibbs earned the top allaround awards in their levels and age groups.
Winning first places on the events were Smith on floor, Gibbs on beam, Hove on bars and floor, Kendra Linder of Glendive on floor and Juliette Freeman of Circle on beam and floor. The EMG team also had 14 second place event finishes and one second place all-around finish. Teams at the meet that was held at the Starion Sports Complex were from Mandan, Williston, Ray, Glendive, Watford City, Beulah, Bismarck, Minot, Sidney and Circle.
The Gold Team was led by Hove and Smith with their top all-around scores and their first-place finishes on bars and floor for Hove and floor for Smith. Gibbs was also second on vault and beam and Smith was second on bars, tied for second on beam and third on vault. Smith competed in the 13B age group of six gymnasts, while Hove competed in the 7-10 age group of five gymnasts.
Justine Massar and Ella Beery, both of Circle, also competed in the 7-10 age group. Massar was third on vault and floor and was tied for third on bars.
Berry was second on bars and third on beam. Kendra Linder and Aspen Boje, both of Glendive, competed in the Gold 11-12 age group of six gymnasts. Besides Linder’s first place on floor, she was second for her all-around, tied for second on bars and third on vault. Boje, in her first meet of the competitive season, was second on floor and third on beam.
The Gold Team tied for first place with the Acro Stars of Ray, N.D., but were awarded the first-place trophy because they had the highest event score, which was on floor and was over a point higher than the next team.
The third place Silver Team competed with only four of their team members and were led by Johannessen and Gibbs and their first-place all-around scores. Johannessen competed in the 9-10 age group of 11 gymnasts and was also second on floor and bars, third on vault and fourth on beam.
It was the first competitive meet for Gibbs and, besides her first place on beam, she was second on floor, third on beam and fourth on vault.
She competed in the 12+ age group of 10 gymnasts as did Azzy Toavs, of Wolf Point. She was fourth on beam and for her all-around score. Emma Hove, of Circle, competed in the 7-8 age group of eight gymnasts and was tied for second on floor and was tied for fourth on vault, beam and her all-around.
Five girls competed for EMG’s Bronze Team, with Juliette Freeman leading the way with her first place on floor and her tie for first on beam. She also was third for her all-around score and fourth on bars. She and Mya Verschoot, of Richey, competed in the 8 age group of seven gymnasts. Verschoot finished in third place for her floor routine. Brooklynn Boren, of Glendive, and Gentry Rosaaen, of Circle, competed in their first competitive meet and were with Jud Rehbein, of Richey, in the 6-7 age group of 10 gymnasts. Boren was second on beam, third for her all-around, tied for third on floor and was fifth on vault and beam. Rosaaen was second on floor, third on beam, tied for third on bars and fourth for allaround. Rehbein was second on bars and tied for fifth on floor.
Gold Scores (Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, Floor, All-Around): Ava Hove (8.85, 9.3, 8.8, 9.45, 36.4), Lina Smith (8.9, 8.8, 9.0, 9.35, 36.05), Kendra Linder (9.05, 8.9, 8.0, 9.4, 35.35), Aspen Boje (8.55, 8.65, 8.4, 8.85, 34.45), Ella Beery (7.7, 8.9, 8.2, 8.95, 33.75), Justine Massar (8.75, 8.3, 7.5, 9.0, 33.55).
Silver Scores: Ashlynn Johannessen (8.9, 9.2, 9.0, 9.5, 36.6), Ali Gibbs (9.0, 8.75, 9.4, 9.1, 36.25), Emma Hove (8.95, 8.7, 8.9, 9.4, 35.95), Azzy Toavs (8.85, 8.7, 8.9, 8.85, 35.3).
Bronze Scores: Juliette Freeman (8.2, 8.8, 9.2, 9.3, 35.5), Brooklynn Boren (8.15, 9.05, 8.9, 9.0, 35.1), Gentry Rosaaen (7.9, 9.1, 8.8, 9.15, 34.95), Jud Rehbein (7.9, 9.2, 8.2, 8.9, 34.2), Mya Verschoot (8.1, 7.9, 8.2, 9.2, 33.4).
The EMG Team’s next meet will be in Watford City in February.
