In the spirit of the approaching Super Bowl and the festivities it brings next weekend, the Minot High gymnastics team decided to add a bit more spice to its Friday Kim Lupo Minot Invite held at the Minot Auditorium.

“The high school athletic teams in Minot had Magi games (this past summer), so kind of a combination of the Super Bowl and the Magi games, we went with the Magi bowl,” head coach Robbie Werchau said. “We decorated with the football theme and had the girls wear football jerseys when they came in, and just had that kind of theme going.”

During the newly-minted Kim Lupo Magi Bowl meet, the Majettes’ 125.375 final score placed the team eighth out of nine in a crowded lineup that saw Minot and the three teams ahead of it separated by just a bit over five points.

The team score represents a new season-high for the Majettes, besting their previous top mark of 125.200 in the girls’ third-place finish at the Milo Dullum Invite Dec. 3.

“I actually thought they did very well. We’ve had improvements throughout the season. We’ve improved our team score and we’ve improved our skill level,” Werchau continued. “We had girls throwing new skills in their routines and that’s always a little nerve-wracking. To be continuing to improve as much as they’ve improved throughout the season is very impressive.”

Freshman and third-year competitor Haley Conklin placed in the top 15 in four of the five total events and paced the team in four of the five as well. An 8.950 mark on the balance beam netted her highest placing of the invite, fourth, ahead of Keira Davis’ 8.100 in 13th place. Bailey McLeod’s 7.050 mark netted a 32nd-place finish, and Lexi McLeod and Makai Mueller each earned a respective 6.750 and 5.300.

“She’s a good leader, she works really hard, and she wants to do well,” Werchau said of Conklin. “Throughout the season, she just continues to either upgrade her skills or to improve on the skills that she has, and that’s all I can ask.”

Conklin produced a final score of 9.100 on the vault in a sixth-place finish, followed by Davis’ 8.725 mark in 12th place, and finished 22nd on the uneven bars with a final score of 7.900, one place ahead of Davis in 23rd with 7.725.

Davis bested her teammate on the floor exercise with an 8.875 final score, landing her in 13th place ahead of Conklin’s 14th-place finish with an 8.850. Lexi McLeod earned an 8.250, good for 29th, and Bailey McLeod and Mueller finished with respective 7.900 and 6.675 marks.

In the all-around, though, it was Conklin once again who paced the Majettes with a 34.800 final score for eighth overall. Davis produced a 33.425 in the event, good for 14th place. Lexi McLeod, Bailey McLeod and Mueller each placed 33rd, 35th, and 36th, respectively, in the event with final scores of 29.150, 27.250 and 24.700.

The Majettes now will look ahead to the regional tournament beginning Feb. 18, hosted by Jamestown High School.