Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Eagles gymnast Alaina Bromberg competes against the Martin County Area Magic Friday night at the home Big South Conference gymnastics meet at the New Ulm Recreation Center. Perform gymnastics competitions.
NEW ULM — With the Martin County Area Magic Gymnastics team having such a strong season, the New Ulm Eagles will need everyone’s best to come away with a win in the Big South Conference on Friday night. I knew I had to give it my all.
But despite the Eagles’ best score of the season, the Magic were just a little sharper in the end, winning 134.775-134.75.
Although her team fell short due to a lack of effort, Eagles head coach Courtney Peterson said she was overall satisfied with the season’s highest score.
“Avery Sellner is still sick. She’s actually been out sick this week, but she’s having the best time of the season and had four really great beam routines.” Mr. Peterson said. “Honestly, we did our best. A little mistake here and there could have made the difference by 0.025, but overall I’m happy with the match.”
Josie Sellner is still not 100% for the Eagles as she continues to recover from a knee injury, but she didn’t let anything slow her down on Friday, again competing in all four events and earning an individual score of 34.975. Ranked 1st overall.
Josie Sellner led the team with an overall score of 34.375 on Tuesday at home against Jackson County Central in her first appearance in four tournaments, but she improved even more on Friday.
“She did all her events on Tuesday, but we cut them down a little bit.” Mr. Peterson said. “So, we put in some things to try to avoid the knee a little bit, so she did all of those things (Tuesday), but she didn’t reach her full potential. … It’s just a recurring injury for her, so there’s nothing that’s going to be very serious or season-ending for her and we just need to rest.”
Josie Sellner’s score of 34.975 on Friday was a career-high for her as she earned first place on bars (8.15 points) and finished the night in first place on floor routine with a score of 9.15.
She finished third on beam with a career-best 9.1 points, and teammate Matilda Kravitter also achieved a career-high with a 9.125.
Magic head coach Ann Post expected a competitive game on Friday. But what she didn’t know was that it might have been just one good jump or clean landing that sealed the team’s victory.
“I definitely knew it was coming.” Post said. “They had scored a few points under us and when the game started we were going to advance and we knew it was going to be a close game. I didn’t expect it to be this close, but we We’ve worked hard to perfect what we already have, so I knew as long as we could accomplish that, we would be solid.”
Magic freshman Lily Schultz made a huge difference for her team in a close victory, taking second place overall with a score of 34.625. The scores included a season-high and first-place score on beam (9.325), first-place score on vault (9.2), and second-place score on floor routine (8.85).
Montgomery (34.025 points) placed third in the individual all-around, with New Ulm’s Sophia Berger fourth (32.8 points). Magic’s Nora Sedens placed fifth overall with a score of 31.85.
Schultz’s top score on beam was followed by teammate Adrianna Cunafla, who placed fourth on beam (8.95), and Montgomery, who placed sixth (8.775), highlighting an overall strong beam night. Berger placed fifth on beam (8.9).
The Magic started the night on bars, with Kunafla and Montgomery finishing second (7.875) and third (7.675), respectively, but the event was the lowest-scoring event for both teams.
“Beam was definitely our high point. It was the highest beam score we had as a team and four of the five girls were on beam the whole time, so it was great to see that. It was really fun.” Post said. “But it was great to see us start from low and gradually grow and develop and see the girls belittle themselves for falling behind in the first two events.” It was great that I didn’t.”
New Ulm’s Alaina Bromberg placed fourth on the horizontal bars (7.325 points) and Martin County’s Ava Tarte took fifth place (7.275 points).
In the floor routine, Montgomery placed third (8.8 points), Blomberg fourth (8.775 points), and Klavitter fifth (8.5 points).
On vault, New Ulm’s Isabelle Longtin set a career high with a score of 8.9. Tedens took third place on vault (8.875 points), followed by Montgomery in fourth place (8.775 points) and Berger in fifth place (8.65 points).
“Today we see great personal growth and success.” Mr. Peterson said. “Like I said, it’s bittersweet to finish so poorly, but to be honest, they played a great game and there’s not much else I could wish for.”
New Ulm hosts St. Peter on Tuesday and the Magic play Windham on Friday.
by Jeff Meder sports@nujournal.com NEW ULM — Sleepy Eye defeated New Ulm Cathedral 50-41 on Friday.
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