CALEDONIA — Caledonia/Spring Grove/Houston gymnastics coach Savana Becker said Vivian Kittleson was good enough to be a state qualifier a year ago.
The skill, she said, was there. But rising to the occasion during a big moment for the first time isn’t easy.
“She has had the potential (to qualify), and even last year we thought she had a chance,” said Becker, who was selected as the section’s coach of the year. “It just depends on if you can hit (the routine) on the day of the section meet.”
Kittleson, a junior, used the experience of missing out and combined it with another year of improvement and broke through on the balance beam last Saturday.
Kittleson’s fourth-place finish and score of 8.875 in the Section 1A meet at Caledonia High School made her the program’s first MSHSL state qualifier since Hope Stremcha 2011. She will compete in the second session Saturday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul.
“She was pretty stunned,” Becker said of Kittleson, a club participant since she was young. “They have the scores going, but we don’t have them looking at those, so she wasn’t sure where she was. She was stunned to find out.”
The balance beam has been Kittleson’s strongest event, and Becker said the placement of an aerial cartwheel in here routine has been an important aspect of her performance and represents a standout moment for judges.
It was initially used on the dismount but Kittleson — a member of the varsity team since she was in seventh grade — had better luck its execution after moving it toward the beginning of the routine.
Kittleson and junior Harper Myrah have been the team’s top performers all-around throughout the season. They were seventh and eighth, respectively, all-around at the section meet and helped the Warriors to a season-best team score of 134.25.
