GYMNASTICS: Worthington’s Tara Svalland qualifies for state in 2 events

REDWOOD FALLS — Tara Svalland left it all on the mat.

A sophomore on Worthington’s gymnastics team, Svalland finished second on the floor and third on the vault in Saturday’s Section 3A meet, punching her ticket to state in both events.

“Obviously she has some experience behind her, being a varsity gymnast for as long as she has been,” WHS head coach Joni Reitmeier said. “She went out there and gave it her all and it paid off for her. She’s a strong competitor and a great gymnast as we know. It was really exciting to see her go in two events and almost make it into the all-around.”

Svalland scored a 9.3 in both the vault and the floor events.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Reitmeier said. “Scoring is always a little bit tougher at sections. They see a lot of good people, so they’re not just handing out scores. You definitely have to earn them.

“Her vaulting has been spectacular this year. But again, there is always room for a few improvements here and there before we go to the state tournament.”

Svalland was fifth in the all-around with a 34.6, narrowly missing state in another event.

“All around, she did very well,” Reitmeier said. “She had a nice strong bar routine. I would say she was probably seventh or eighth on the bars. She had a fall on beam and that always hurts. But she came back strong in the other events to do well. I’m very proud of her performance.”

Svalland will advance to the Class A state meet on Saturday at the University of Minnesota.

Joining Svalland will be Jackson County Central’s Sydnee Donnelli, Brandi Sether-Hassing, Courtney Donnelli and Adriane Rentschler.

Sydnee Donnelli was fourth on the all-around with a 34.74, fourth in the vault with a 9.275 and fourth on the bars with an 8.525.

Sether-Hassing was third on the bars with an 8.550, while Courtney Donnelli was third on the floor with a 9.175.

Rentschler was first on the beam with a 9.05.

Martin County Area finished first in the team competition, scoring a 142.6. Jackson County Central was second with a 139.775, while the Trojans were third with a 128.475.

“I’m super proud that we finished third,” Reitmeier said. “We finally finished where we should be. The last two years, we have been strong competitors, but we got to the section tournament and didn’t perform to our abilities. I really think this year was the best year. We suffered some falls on the beam which has kind of been our Achilles’ heel. But we had very strong bar performances, we had really good floor routine and the vault scores were pretty decent.”

The Trojans finished second in the conference behind only the Huskies this season.

“We were second in the conference, the only people to beat us in the conference was Jackson, so we finally went to sections and beat everybody in our conference except for the two losses that we’ve this season, Martin County and Jackson,” Reitmeier said. “I’m really proud of the way the girls performed.”

But the accolades kept coming for the Trojans.

Reitmeier was chosen as the Section 3A coach of the year.

As a team, WHS achieved Academic Gold standard, with a cumulative GPA of 3.82.

While this season is over for everyone except Svalland, Reitmeier is already excited for next season.

“We return a lot of our squad,” the coach said. “We have a big team and we have quite a few young girls coming up, so that’s exciting. We have a lot of young talent that’s coming and a lot of talent that we have now that’s still young is going to be considered our veterans. It’ll be an exciting year next year and I’m looking forward to it.”

Tags: jackson county central, sports, prep, gymnastics, trojans