HOLMEN — The West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor co-op gymnastics team has spent its season trying to figure out what it means to be a Division 1 program.
The Panthers were so good in Division 2 that the WIAA moved them up this winter. They got a good look at their new reality at the McLellan Invitational on Saturday.
West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor turned in a second-place finish in its session while competing alongside top-ranked Chippewa Falls/McDonell. The Cardinals won the competition with a team score of 141.575, and the Panthers followed at 139.425. Holmen was third (135.725) and Stevens Point fourth (134.7) among six teams.
“For us to be promoted and go out and compete against the team that’s ranked first in Division 1, that was the most exciting part for us today,” West Salem co-op coach Carrie O’Hearn said. “They are also in our sectional, so it was really good to see them prior to that.”
Senior Kennedy Garbers was third on the balance beam with a 9.35, and that highlighted her fifth-place performance all-around (35.475). Junior Olivia Maki had the team’s top individual finish with her runner-up showing on the vault (8.95).
O’Hearn also counted the bars routine of junior Hayden Rohde as a highlight of the meet.
“We had a new bar dismount from Hayden Rohde,” the coach said. “She’s been working hard at it and landed it. Watching her learn the skill and really try to put it in the routine, it was exciting for her to do that.”
Rohde placed sixth on the bars with an 8.625.
Holmen senior Katie Lange had a big day for the third-place Vikings with a victory on the vault (9.0), runner-up performance on the floor exercise (9.425) and third-place finish on the bars (8.75). She was second all-around (35.925) to Chippewa Falls’ Ava Krista (37.175), who was sixth all-around and third on the bars in last year’s Division 1 individual state competition.
West Salem co-op’s Camdyn Lyga was seventh all-around (34.425), while Holmen’s Mina Hawkins and West Salem’s Maki tied for fifth on the floor exercise (9.25).
