The Britton-Hecla gymnastics team added a pair of wins in the past week and wrapped up its pre-Christmas schedule with its final home meet of the season last night Tuesday.
Coach Angela Grupe’s squad scored a season-high 134.350 points to top a fourteam field in the Lady Braves’ annual Christmas meet last week Tuesday, and then outdistanced a seven-team field at the Milbank Invitational on Saturday with 132.250 points. The last time the Lady Braves scored over 134 points was in the 2016-17 season.
After B-H tied the floor exercise school record in the Christmas meet the foursome of Sterling Mertens, Kaegan Fredrickson, Kennady Van Lith, and Jaelee Grupe set a new mark of 36.0 in Milbank. The previous mark of 35.9 had been set in 2010 by Ramy Hagen, Mariah Nickeson, Sarah Claeys, and Kirsten Hastings (the record was older than two of the girls that helped set the new standard).
“We had a good home meet,” said Grupe. “It took us over a year, but we finally hit beam having five no-fall routines and tied the floor school record (Mertens, Fredrickson, Van Lith, Abby Lee).
“At Milbank we were able to come up with a win but Deuel is getting very close and they do have a top girl sitting out with injuries right now. We had a strong showing on floor but there was plenty of room for improvement on the other events,” added Grupe. “I will welcome Christmas break to get back to some skill work and get after our goals.”
Event winners for B-H in its home meet were Mertens on the bars and Ava Teveldal won the beam. At Milbank Mertens took the vault, bars, and floor exercise titles, giving her the all-around championship with a 34.150 total.
B-H Christmas Meet
TEAM POINTS: Britton-Hecla 134.350, Deuel 132.600, Milbank 120.050, Sisseton 113.600 VAULT: 4. (tie) Kaegan Fredrickson, Abby Lee 8.50 7. McKenna Heer 8.40; Emma Kraft 8.30, Kennady Van Lith 8.30, Brynlee Schmieg 8.00 UNEVEN BARS: 1. Sterling Mertens 8.65 5. Kraft 7.80 6. Lee 7.75 8. Van Lith 7.40; Fredrickson 7.35, Heer 6.2
0 BALANCE BEAM
: 1. Ava Teveldal 8.50 2. Fredrickson 8.45 4. Van LIth 8.25 7. Jaelee Grupe 7.95 8. Lee 7.90; Kraft 7.30, Heer 5.80 FLOOR EXERCISE : 2. Mertens 9.35 5. Fredrickson 9.05 6. Van LIth 8.80 7. Lee 8.70; Grupe 8.50, Heer 8.15
ALL-AROUND: 2. Fredrickson 33.35 4. Lee 32.85 6. Van Lith 32.75; Heer 28.55
Milbank Invitational
TEAM POINTS: Britton-Hecla 132.250, Deuel 131.900, Aberdeen Central Varsity 128.450, Vermillion 126.500, Milbank 121.600, Sisseton 118.800, West Central 44.550
VAULT: 1. Sterling Mertens 8.90 3. Abby Lee 8.50 8. Kaegan Fredrickson 8.20; McKenna Heer 7.90, Kennady Van Lith 7.85, Emma Kraft 7.80
UNEVEN BARS : 1. Mertens 8.55 3. Kraft 8.00 4. Lee 7.80; Fredrickson 6.65, Heer 6.25, Van Lith 6.15
BALANCE BEAM: 7. Van Lith 8.25 8. Fredrickson 8.20; Kraft 7.85, Lee 7.45, Mertens 7.25, Jaelee Grupe 7.10
FLOOR EXERCISE: 1. Mertens 9.45 6. Fredrickson 8.95 7. Van Lith 8.85; Grupe 8.75, Lee 8.25, Heer 8.15
ALL-AROUND : 1. Mertens 34.15 7. (tie) Fredrickson, Lee 32.00; Van Lith 31.10
