BENSON -- Dana Dierkhising broke the Section 6A individual all-around record en route to leading Melrose to the Class A state tournament for the 15th time on Saturday.
Melrose, which won its ninth straight section title, had 145.05 points. New London-Spicer was second with 142.225 and Benson/KMS third with 136.6.
Dierkhising's 38.8 all-around score shattered the old mark held by Katie Niehaus (38.35).
Emma DeGeest of New London-Spicer was second all-around (35.75) and also qualified for state with a third on floor exercise and fourth-place finishes on vault and balance beam. Carrie Hanson of Benson/KMS was third all-around (35.575) and was second on vault and bars.
The top four finishers in each event qualify for the Class A state meet next Friday and Saturday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium, RiverCentre in St. Paul.
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Also qualifying for state from the area is Megan Lundin of Litchfield on vault, Lindsay Evermann of New London-Spicer on bars and Alexa Score and Courtney Edwards of New London-Spicer in floor exercise.
Melrose won its 16th straight West Central Conference title the previous weekend with BKMS second and NLS third.
Team scoring
(1) Melrose 145.05 (2) New London-Spicer 142.225 (3) Benson/KMS 136.6 (4) Litchfield 130.325 (5) Prairie Centre 129.8 (6) Paynesville 122.5 (7) Ortonville 104.3 (8) Morris Area 96.825
ALL-AROUND (Top four state qualifiers, area top 10 finishers) - (1) Dana Dierkhising, Mel, 38.8 (2) Emma DeGeest, NLS, 35.75 (3) Carrie Hanson, BKMS, 35.575 (4) Ashley Wehlage, Mel, 35.5 ... (6) Megan Lundin, Lit, 34.775 (7) Courtney Edwards, NLS, 34.5 (8) Jacki Imdieke, NLS, 34.475 (9) Brittany Johnson, BKMS, 33.75
VAULT (Top four state qualifiers, area top 10 finishers) - (1) Dierkhising, Mel, 9.8 (2) Hanson, BKMS, 9.3 (3) Lundin, Lit, 9.175 (4) DeGeest, NLS, 9.15 ... (5) Amanda Yordi, Lit, 9.1 (6) Alexa Score, NLS, 9.075 (8) Imdieke, NLS, 9.0 (9) Edwards, NLS, 8.9
BARS (Top four state qualifiers, area top 10 finishers) - (1) Dierkhising, Mel, 9.65 (2) Hanson, BKMS, 9.45 (3) Lindsay Evermann, NLS, 8.85 (4) Wehlage, Mel, 8.8 ... (5) Kacy Nehowig, Pay, 8.65 (7) Lundin, Lit, 8.4 (9) Gina Bruns, NLS, 8.3 (10) Edwards, NLS, 8.3
BEAM (Top four state qualifiers, area top 10 finishers) - (1) Dierkhising, Mel, 9.75 (2) Haider, Mel, 9.35 (3) Wehlage, Mel, 9.3 (4) DeGeest, NLS, 9.2 ... (6) Score, NLS, 9.0 (7) Wendy Toops, NLS, 8.95 (8) Johnson, BKMS, 8.9 (9) Imdieke, NLS, 8.75
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FLOOR (Top four state qualifiers, area top 10 finishers) - (1) Dierkhising, Mel, 9.6 (2) Score, NLS, 9.3 (3) DeGeest, NLS, 9.2 (4) Edwards, NLS, 9.2 ... (6) Johnson, BKMS, 9.05 (7) Lundin, Lit, 9.0 (9) Hanson, BKMS, 8.925 (10) Yordi, Lit, 8.9
