ST. PAUL -- Fans of the Worthington and Jackson County Central gymnastics programs came away from Saturday's State Class A individual meet at the RiverCentre feeling pretty good about what they saw their performers do.
WHS's Christina Sorensen closed out her gymnastics career with a 20th-place finish in the all-around competition (35.125), including a pair of top-15 finishes on the bars (8.8375, 14th) and the beam (9.025, 13th). Sorensen was also 29th on vault (9.0) and scored an 8.2625 on the floor, but did not place because she didn't qualify for the event during sectional competition.
Her Worthington teammate, Kayla Block, also did well in her two events, taking 27th on the beam (8.15) and 31st on the vault (8.725).
Although one can forgive Block if she was nervous at the start of the day when she was the lead gymnast on the balance beam.
"Being her first time at a state meet was nerve-wracking, but she did have a neat routine" WHS head coach Shelly Eklund said.
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Block has been nursing a knee injury the last month, and Eklund thought it had an impact on her performance on vault. On one performance, she came up short. On the next, she fell when she tried to stick her landing.
Regardless, Eklund was happy with how things went for Block, commending her on making it to state.
Sorensen, meanwhile, did have a solid all-around day. She was able to meet the scores she had hit on the bars and the beam, and also turned in a nice score on the vault. On the floor, though, she was again suffered a fall, but she overcame it, and finished strong.
And, for the day, Eklund came away feeling pretty good about her gymnasts.
"I was very proud of both girls," she said. "They represented Worthington outstandingly."
The only other local participant, JCC's Briel Hendricksen, took 28th on the floor (8.4750).
Not bad for a girl in her first appearance at state -- and as an eighth-grader, to boot.
"She's very determined," JCC head coach Tammy Handervidt said. "As soon as she got her front full, it wasn't long and we were able to put it in the late pass."
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The late pass refers to the final diagonal run across the mat for the gymnasts. Each gymnast performs two of these in a meet, one at the start and one at the finish. Hendricksen had done this in the early pass before, instead of at the end when a gymnast needs a lot of strength and endurance to pull it off.
Hendricksen went for it on both passes, though, hitting the first before slipping on the second.
