Gymnasts Sixth At State ‘A’ Meet

The Britton-Hecla gymnastics team earned a sixth place state finish and had three gymnasts place among the top 10 at the Class A state gymnastics meet held in Aberdeen on Friday and Saturday.

Estelline-Hendricks became the first team other than Madison and Deuel to win the state crown in 29 years with a total of 138.917, topping Chamberlain with 137.117 points. Defending state champ Madison was third at 136.817. Britton-Hecla totaled 132.250 points for its sixth place finish.

Sterling Mertens finished eighth in the all-around competition with a 34.950 total, was ninth on the uneven bars, and was named to the all-tournament team. Maggie Kilker, the lone senior on this year’s Britton-Hecla team, was seventh in vault, and Abby Lee placed 10th in vault.

“It’s such an honor to make the top 10 at the state meet,” stressed B-H coach Angela Grupe, who was inducted into the South Dakota Gymnastics Hall of Fame during the meet on Saturday. “And we are going to miss our lone senior. Maggie is a one-of-a-kind team captain, and she had a wonderful final meet, posting career-high scores on both bars and vault. She also pushed this team the last two years and is a big reason for this year’s success.

“I’m very proud of everything these ladies put into this season,” Grupe added. “It’s not easy. The physical, mental, and vulnerability of competing in gymnastics takes strong young ladies to take everything head on and succeed. The grit, determination, and character these young ladies showed is impressive.”

Grupe noted that to qualify as a team for the state meet was an impressive accomplishment.

“The level of competition in Class A has risen so high over the last 10 years that being able to compete amongst the top teams is an honor. We really ended our season strong on bars and vault. Bars is something we have been working on for years to increase the difficulty, and we really had a strong postseason on that event. We did come up short on beam and that ultimately showed in our team score.”

Team Day

TEAM SCORES: Estelline-Hendricks 138.917, Chamberlain 137.117, Madison 136.817, Hot Springs 136.817, Deuel 135.617, Britton-Hecla 132.250, Parkston-Ethan-Hanson 131.217, Wagner-Bon Homme 125.267.

VAULT: Sterling Mertens 9.050, Maggie Kilker 8.917, Abby Lee 8.667, Kaegan Fredrickson 8.617, McKenna Heer 8.200

UNEVEN BARS: Mertens 8.183, Lee 7.950, Kilker 7.867, Emma Kraft 7.767, Fredrickson 7.250

BALANCE BEAM: Mertens 8.233, Fredrickson 7.883, Ava Teveldal 7.817, Kilker 7.133, Jaelee Grupe 7.067

FLOOR EXERCISE: Mertens 9.067, Teveldal 8.450, Fredrickson 8.350, Kennady Van Lith 8.300, Kilker 8.083

ALL-AROUND: Mertens 34.533, Fredrickson 32.100, Kilker 32.000

Individual Day

VAULT: 7. Maggie Kilker 8.983 10. Abby Lee 8.883; Sterling Mertens 8.867, Kaegan Fredrickson 8.583

UNEVEN BARS: 9. Mertens 8.400; Lee 8.117, Kilker 8.050, Emma Kraft 7.900, Fredrickson 7.400, Kennady Van LIth 7.233

BALANCE BEAM: Mertens 8.483, Fredrickson 7.350

FLOOR EXERCISE: Mertens 9.200, Fredrickson 9.017, Ava Teveldal 8.783, Van Lith 8.757

ALL-AROUND: 8. Mertens 34.950; Fredrickson 32.350