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The Luverne gymnasts’ “Road to Success”-themed season led the team to Marshall Saturday for the Section 3A tournament, where the Cardinals posted their highest team score of the season, achieved personal best scores and broke one school record.
Luverne placed third out of the seven teams with a score of 132.75.
The Cardinals achieved season-best scores on the bars (31.775) and the floor (34.95) while scoring 35.35 on the vault and 30.675 on the balance beam.
“The girls have been working on some harder skills on the floor and the bars and they finally were making them, and that is where it paid off,” said coach Phoebe Flom. “We had a hard day on beam, but it sounded like it was a struggle for all the teams.”
Worthington Trojans won the section meet (145.4) and will represent the 3A teams at Saturday’s state tournament. Jackson County Central was section runner-up (133.65).
Coach Flom set a preseason goal of placing third as a team at the section meet. She based the goal on her athletes’ ability to hit the high scoring elements included in their routines.
Several gymnasts hit those high marks Saturday.
“We finished right where I thought we would and were very close to the No. 2 spot (nine-tenths of a point),” she said. “This is exactly the time of the year where you want to peak and those scores should happen.”
Freshman Ella Reisdorfer led the Cardinals with an all-around score of 35.625, breaking her old school record of 35.475 set last year.
She placed third in the all-around competition, earning an automatic bid to this weekend’s state tournament.
Worthington’s Hali Bullerman won the all-around with a score of 36.85.
Under a new format this year, the top three all-around performers and the top three score earners in each of the four events earned trips to the state meet in St. Paul.
Reisdorfer tied for fourth in the vault (9.075), placed fifth on the uneven bars (8.55), fourth on balance beam (8.875) and fifth on the floor exercise (9.125).
Bullerman earned the top scores of the section meet on the vault (9.475), bars (8.85) and floor (9.55), with teammates Mekyla Nystrom and Olivia Barber tying for the top score on the beam (9.1).
This is the third-straight year Reisdorfer has qualified for the Minnesota State High School League state tournament with this year being the first time she qualified in more than one event.
Coach Phoebe Flom, who was selected by fellow coaches as the Section 3A Coach of the Year (her third such honor), has led the Luverne team since 1994. This is the first time a Luverne athlete has competed in the state all-around event under her tenure.
“Ella is an amazing gymnast,” Flom said. “She has been a part of the Cardinal gymnastics program since she was 6. She is extremely gifted athletically, a natural. She’s strong, coachable and determined. She is willing to put in the hard work to achieve her goals.”
The top six gymnasts received medals in each of the events at the section meet.
In addition to Reisdorfer, Sara deCesare placed fifth on the vault with a 9.025, a personal best score for the sophomore.
Three other Cardinals placed in the top 10 including freshman Amira Cowell who placed tenth in the all-around (32.725) and tied for eighth place on the bars (8.2). Eighth-grader Tiana Winter finished tied for tenth on the vault (8.6) and achieved a personal best and a tie for seventh place on the floor exercise (9.025). Junior Tiana Lais tied for ninth on the vault (8.65).
“I couldn’t be prouder of my girls who PB’d Saturday,” Flom said. “I see them doing so well in practice and have just been waiting for them to hit in a meet. I can’t describe how happy and proud I am to see them make that happen.”
The Luverne gymnastics also achieved a silver award for academics in Section 3A with a cumulative grade point average of 3.573.
With no seniors on this year’s team, Flom has the same athletes returning for the 2022-23 season.
With assistant coaches Kari Lais and Chris Nowatzki, Flom sees another good season for the Cardinals.
“We want to increase our skills/scores and not backtrack, start where we left off,” she said. “So hopefully all girls will return ready to keep working — would love to lock in the No. 2 spot.”
Individual scores
All-around: Reisdorfer 35.625, Cowell 32.725, deCesare 32.225.
Vault: Reisdorfer 9.075, deCesare 9.025, Lais 8.65, Winter 8.6, Cowell 8.225.
Uneven bars: Reisdorfer 8.55, Cowell 8.2, deCesare 7.725, Hailey Como 7.3, Addyson Mann 7.0.
Balance beam: Reisdorfer 8.875, Cowell 7.9, deCesare 7.1, Kendra Thorson 6.8, Mann 6.5.
Floor exercise: Reisdorfer 9.125, Winter 9.025, Cowell 8.4, Mann 8.4, deCesare 8.375.