NEW LONDON – Haley Mottinger won the vault, Stephanie Thompson won the beam, the two Willmar teammates finished third and fourth all-around, respectively, and the Cardinals finished a strong second to Melrose in the Section 6A Gymnastics Meet on Saturday at New London-Spicer High School.
Melrose’s Lydia Butkowski won the bars and placed first all-around with a superb 38.150, and teammate Mady Brinkman at 36.850 was second as the defending Class A state champions won the meet and a return trip to the state meet with 146.850 points.
Willmar was second at 142.575 and New London-Spicer was third with 136.525. NLS’ Courtney Henjum was first in the floor exercise.
Melrose will shoot for its third Class A championship in the last five years at the 2015 Minnesota State Gymnastics Meet, which begins Friday at the University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion.
The Dutch may need to boost its numbers to do so. They won last season with a 149.575 and they took the 2012 championship with a 147.500. Their score Saturday would have placed them fifth in last year’s state meet.
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Butkowski is on track for an all-around state championship, however. She placed second last season with 37.90, behind only Austin graduate Sela Fadness’ 38.750.
Mottinger finished at 36.775 and Thompson scored 35.975, despite a fall on the bars and a 7.750 score.
Henjum was seventh all-around on Saturday, teammate Rachael TerWisscha was ninth and Benson/KMS/Montevideo’s MiKaylie Hagen was 10th.
On the floor, Willmar got top-10 finishes from Mottinger (third), Thompson (fourth) and Alexis Miley (tie for eighth), and TerWisscha was 10th.
On vault, Willmar’s Morgan Hamstad tied for fourth, Thompson was eighth and Kendall Hein placed 10th. Henjum was ninth.
On the bars, four Cardinals placed in the top-10: Mottinger was third, Miley was eighth, Hamstad was ninth and Thompson placed 10th. NLS’s Mya Rohman tied for fourth.
Behind Thompson on the beam, Mottinger placed fifth, Hein tied for sixth and Miley placed eighth.
Section 6A Meet
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TEAM SCORES - (1) Melrose 146.850 (2) Willmar 142.575 (3) New London-Spicer 136.525 (4) Dassel-Cokato 130.600 (5) Benson/KMS/Montevideo 129.200 (6) Morris/Chokio-Alberta 122.525 (7) Litchfield 117.000 (8) Paynesville 114.050 (9) Ortonville/Big Stone Lake 103.575
ALL-AROUND - (1) Lydia Butkowski, Mel, 38.150 (2) Mady Brinkman, Mel, 36.850 (3) Haley Mottinger, Wil, 36.775 (4) Stephanie Thompson, Wil, 35.975 (5) Kayla Austing, Mel, 35.875 (6) Greta Klaphake, Mel, 35.350 (7) Courtney Henjum, NLS, 35.075 (8) Megan Nelson, DC, 34.250 (9) Rachael TerWisscha, NLS, 33.90 (10) MiKaylie Hagen, B/K/M, 33.850
VAULT - (1) Mottinger, Wil, 9.575 (2) Butkowski, Mel, 9.550 (3) Camryn Brinkman, Mel, 9.500 (4) tie, Brinkman, Mel, and Morgan Hamstad, Wil, 9.450 (6) Austing, Mel, 9.400 (7) Klaphake, Mel, 9.300 (8) Thompson, Wil, 9.150 (9) Henjum, NLS, 9.100 (10) Kendall Hein, Wil, 9.050
BARS - (1) Butkowski, Mel, 9.425 (2) Brinkman, Mel, 9.025 (3) Mottinger, Wil, 8.625 (4) tie, Austing, Mel, and Mya Rohman, NLS, 8.500 (6) Nelson, DC, 8.450 (7) Klaphake, Mel, 8.275 (8) Alexis Miley, NLS, 8.225 (9) Hamstad, Wil, 7.925 (10) Thompson, Wil, 7.775
BEAM - (1) Thompson, Wil, 9.650 (2) Butkowski, Mel, 9.625 (3) Brinkman, Mel, 9.500 (4) Austing, Mel, 9.300 (5) Mottinger, Wil, 9.100 (6) tie, Hein, Wil, and Klaphake, Mel, 8.950 (8) Miley, Wil, 8.825 (9) tie, Henjum, NLS, and Hagen, B/K/M, 8.800
FLOOR - (1) Henjum, NLS, 9.575 (2) Butkowski, Mel, 9.550 (3) Mottinger, Wil, 9.475 (4) Thompson, Wil, 9.400 (5) Maddie Masog, Mel, 9.100 (6) Nelson, DC, 8.900 (7) Brinkman, Mel, 8.875 (8) tie, Miley, Wil, and Klaphake, Mel, 8.825 (10) TerWisscha, NLS 8.775
