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Record-breaking team ready for state gymnastics
Feb 14, 2013 (American News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
It has been a record season for the Aberdeen Central gymnastics team as the Golden Eagles broke the school record for team points three times.
Central advanced seven individual gymnasts and its entire team to the State AA Gymnastics Meet on Friday and Saturday at Rapid City Stevens High School. Two keys have been depth and a summer conditioning program.
"We have great depth with our top 12 gymnasts," said Aberdeen gymnastics coach Jennifer Deutsch. "They push each other to get better and perform higher level skills every day. They know they are competing with each other other for the top five spots, so I think that helps them to not get too comfortable in the gym. I also feel the conditioning we do with Todd Berner, Northern State conditioning coach, has helped us stay injury free and consistent."
The state meet is broken down into team competition on the first day and individual competition on Saturday. A new format will be used for the team competition this season for the first time. In the past, the Class A teams competed in the afternoon and the Class AA followed in the evening in separate meets. This year, the two classes will still compete against just teams in their own class, but will perform in an alternating fashion on each apparatus. A Class AA and a Class A team will be paired up at each site and take turns in the order of competition.
For example, Aberdeen Central, a Class AA school, will be paired with Vermillion, a Class A school. Both squads will compete in the vault in the second rotation of the day. A Golden Eagle gymnast will perform followed by one from Vermillion. There will be two sets of judges at each event; one set to judge Class AA and one to judge Class A.
In another change for this season, the Class A schools did not conduct region meets, but will use Friday's team competition to qualify individuals for Saturday's competition.
"(The team format) changed because they got rid of A regions. Those teams will then have to qualify on team day for individual day. Then, it was decided to have A and AA together to create a better crowd and to shorten the day for the judges, but a longer meet for the gymnasts," said Deutsch.
The order of competition on Friday for Vermillion and Aberdeen will be vault, bars, beam and floor. The two squads will begin on the vault at about 11:38 a.m. and finish with floor at about 6:34 p.m.
The Golden Eagles will be seen in abundance on individual day on Saturday. Aberdeen will have seven individual performers plus two exhibition gymnasts: all round, Larissa Swanson, Alexis Clark; uneven bars, Swanson, Clark, Aimee Padgett, Tessa Kimbler; balance beam, Swanson and Clark; floor exercise, Swanson, Clark, Hannah Langbehn; vault, Swanson, Clark, Jenny Janish, Taylor Schweitzer; exhibition, Mattison Flakus, Ashley Dean. The Golden Eagles have just one senior, Swanson.
Also on Saturday, Warner's Erin Punt will compete in all four events and the all around. Punt trains with the Central squad.
The Golden Eagles know exactly what needs to be done at state.
"Stick our connections and landings as well as staying on the beam," said Deutsch. "We've been emphasizing being consistent and clean. We also have been doing some things to simulate a meet atmosphere and trying to get them out of their comfort zone in practice. They have the skills and look strong but we need to conquer the mental part of this sport."
In Class AA, the defending champions from Rapid City Central, led by Colette and Chelsey Christensen, are one of the favored teams, but after the top three places, it gets interesting.
"Rapid City Central, Watertown and then Mitchell," said Deutsch. "I feel it is then going to be pretty close from fourth through 12th place."
Coaches, fans and school administrators from Aberdeen Central will be paying close attention to the new modifications in the meet because Golden Eagles Arena in Aberdeen is the site for the 2014 State Meet on Feb. 21-22.
State AA Gymnastics
Team competition: Friday, opening ceremony 10:45 a.m. Competition begins at 11 a.m. and awards ceremony approximately 6:45 p.m.
Individual competition: Saturday, 9:20 a.m. opening ceremonies, 9:30 a.m. competition begins and awards ceremony 2 p.m. approximately.
Where: Rapid City Stevens High School.
Defending team champion: Rapid City Central, which posted the top team qualifying score this year.
Defending individual champions: Colette Christensen, Rapid City Central, junior, vault, beam and all around; Chelsey Christensen, Rapid City Central, eighth grader, bars and floor.
Number of participants: 101.
State A Gymnastics
Team competition: Friday, opening ceremony 10:45 a.m. Competition begins at 11 a.m. and awards ceremony approximately 6:45 p.m.
Individual competition: Saturday, 4:20 p.m. opening ceremony, 4:30 p.m. competition begins and awards ceremony 9 p.m. approximately.
Where: Rapid City Stevens High School.
Defending team champion: Deuel.
Defending individual champions: Meaghan Sievers, Deuel, sophomore, beam, floor and all around; Sam Wiekamp, Deuel, senior, vault and bars.
Area qualifiers: Sisseton, Milbank and Britton-Hecla teams, along with individual Erin Punt of Warner.
Number of participants: 107.
___ (c)2013 the American News (Aberdeen, S.D.) Visit the American News
(Aberdeen, S.D.) at www.aberdeennews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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