It was a familiar
refrain at the Section 1A Gymnastics Meet on Saturday as consistent Austin
cruised to a fifth straight team championship, and sixth in seven years. Austin
scored 144.3 points to win with more than 2.5 points to spare, followed by Pine
Island (141.675) in the nine-team competition. Austin was led again by junior
Maddie Mullenbach who repeated as the section all-around champion with 38.075
points. She won the bars and floor, was second on the beam and third on the
vault.
Austin sophomore Jennifer
Boyle won the beam (9.425), and Red Wing senior Mackenzie Hughes won the vault
(9.5). Huges finished second and Boyle was third in the all-around, and Pine
Island seventh-grader Sawyer Gorman was fourth to qualify for state in her
first high school season. The winning team and the top four individuals in each
event, plus the all-around top four, qualified for the Class A State Meet Feb.
19-20 at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion. Austin placed sixth at
state last season with 142.65 points. Boyle is the defending state champ on the
bars; she won last year with a 9.55 and finished ninth all-around. Mullenbach
finished fifth all-around. She will compete at state individually for a third
straight year.
Team scores
Austin 144.3, Pine Island 141.675, Byron 138.725,
Winona/Cotter 138.45, Red Wing 135.45, La Crescent 127.25, Caledonia 120.125,
Stewartville 118.0, Kasson-Mantorville/Triton 116.175.
Vault — 1. Mackenzie Hughes (RW) 9.5; 2. Sawyer
Gorman (PI) 9.45; 3. Maddie Mullenbach (A) 9.4; 4. Hayley Gerdes (WC) 9.375.
Bars — 1. Maddie Mullenbach (A) 9.5; 2. Jennifer
Boyle (A) 9.475; 3. Mackenzie Hughes (RW) 9.225; 4 8.825 Hayley Gerdes (WC)
8.825.
Beam — 1. Jennifer Boyle (A) 9.425; 2. Maddie
Mullenbach (A) 9.375; 3. Sawyer Gorman (PI) 9.325; 4. Mackenzie Hughes (RW)
9.125.
Floor — 1. Maddie Mullenbach (A) 9.8; 2. Mackenzie
Hughes (RW) 9.7; 3. 9.575 Hayley Gerdes (WC) 9.575; 4. 9.550 Sawyer Gorman (PI)
9.55.
All-around — 1. Maddie Mullenbach (A) 38.075; 2.
Mackenzie Hughes (RW) 37.55; 3. Jennifer Boyle (A) 37.075; 4. Sawyer Gorman
(PI) 36.85.
