GYMNASTICS: Svalland places 11th at state

MINNEAPOLIS — After Worthington gymnast Tara Svalland stumbled a bit through her first vault landing on Saturday, she didn’t look visibly shaken.

Her coach, on the other hand?

“She didn’t seem to be nervous, but she sure made her coach a little worried,” Trojans’ head coach Joni Reitmeier said. “I think I was more phased, and worried that she just had one more vault to go.”

She made the most of it.

Svalland stuck that vault, posted a 9.425, and tied for 11th place out of 34 competitors at the State Individual Gymnastics Meet at the University of Minnesota.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better vault from her,” Reitmeier said. “You get your two shots and that’s it, so when one didn’t go well, she really took advantage of the second.”

Not only did Svalland, just a freshman, tie for 11th — she was also just a tenth of a point away from medaling.

Jackson County Central’s Sydnee Donnelli claimed sixth-place hardware with a 9.525, leaving little separation between her and the non-medaling field.

“Only a tenth, that was very tight,” Reitmeier said.“Tara represented Worthington very well.”

JCC was represented well, too, sending four individuals to the state competition.

Donnelli’s vault medal was the highlight, but Briel Hendricksen and she finished 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the floor exercise. JCC’s Brandi Sether-Hassing, competing in two events, scored a 9.025 in the balance beam for 13th place and an 8.75 for 17th place in the uneven bars.

Another Huskie, Morgan Halverson, placed 22nd in the balance beam with an 8.525.

For photos, see dglobe.com

Those performances capped off a season for JCC that included a Southwest Conference title after a perfect 6-0 run through the league.

Worthington placed second after going 5-1 against SWC teams.

With Svalland and a number of other competitors returning, Reitmeier is excited about the future of the Trojan program.

“I think if we work really hard during the offseason, we’ll have a few more competitors headed to the state meet, maybe even our team,” the coach said. “Hopefully, the team will be able to feed off of some of that energy of somebody making it to state.”

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