It doesn’t get much closer than the Class 2A state team gymnastics meet on Friday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul.
Cretin-Derham Hall held a slim advantage over Owatonna and New Prague heading into the final two rotations of the evening. The problem for the Raiders was their last event of the night was uneven bars, which was the lowest-scoring event across all teams throughout the meet.
The Raiders delivered, recording a 35.550 on uneven bars, the best score of the night on the apparatus, thanks to a monster score from star senior Delaney Cunnington, the defending state champ in the event. But even that wasn’t quite enough to hold off New Prague, who threw down a 37.225 on floor, the second-best score on that event of the evening, which vaulted the Trojans’ into first place, a mere .025 better than the Raiders.
All that was standing between New Prague and a state title at that point? Owatonna.
The Huskies’ last event of the night was the always anxiety-inducing balance beam, and Owatonna needed better than a 36.8 on the event to edge the Trojans.
And they delivered it.
The Huskies were nearly flawless on the beam, scoring a 37.2 — the best score on the event by nearly a half point — to win the program’s first team state title.
Owatonna was a late-charging title contender, who improved exponentially down the stretch run of the season. It posted its first 147 of the season at the Big 9 Conference meet, then delivered a 148.675 at the Class 2A, Section 1 meet to top defending state champion Lakeville South. The Huskies battled injuries all season and never could seem to get to full strength until it mattered most.
“They got healthy, and then we just kept working, working, working on the small things with bars, beam and even cleaning up vaults,” Owatonna coach Evan Moe said. “Just turned it on when they needed to at the end of the day.”
Owatonna won the meet with a total of 146.825. The beam was the primary difference between the Huskies and New Prague, who was second with a 146.450 after enduring a few slips on the beam.
“You win or lose meets on beam all the time,” Moe said.
Cretin-Derham Hall was third with a 146.425. The Raiders’ score was a 1.5 points better than what they recorded at last year’s state meet, when they finished as runners up to Lakeville South. Cunnington said Friday may have represented the team’s best score of the season.
“It’s just really exciting to see how (the program) has grown over the years and to see how all of our hard work has really paid off,” Cunnington said. “We just wanted to have a bunch of fun, and it paid off. It’s just so fun to see everyone do good.”
Owatonna finished runner up to Lakeville South in sections a year ago. Its score in that meet would’ve also been good enough for a second-place state finish. The Huskies have made five state meet appearances in Moe’s tenure. They’ve taken third place, he noted, four times.
Now, they’re atop the mountain.
“It’s been like right on the edge. We’ve always been in the hunt,” Moe said. “And we’re just proud, so proud of them.”
Class A
Detroit Lakes claimed its sixth team title in program history, winning the Class A meet with a score of 145.625. Monticello was second with a 144.775, while Breck was third with a 144.000.
Detroit Lakes separated itself with a vault score of 37.575.
The individual state meet — with the all-around competition and the event finals — will take place Saturday in St. Paul.
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