Submitted Photo The Minot United gymnastics team won their first event of the season, finishing with a team score of 142.300 at the Mandan Christmas Meet on Friday, Dec. 19. Adylin Belnap won the all-around title, as well as the uneven bars and balance beam events. Photo provided by Cassie Davis/Minot United Gymnastics.

Prep Gymnastics: Minot United claims Mandan Christmas Meet title

Adylin Belnap returned to the mat in a big way for the Minot United gymnastics team after missing the team’s previous meet last week in Bismarck due to an illness.

The eighth grader had plenty to feel good about during the Mandan Christmas Meet on Friday, Dec. 19, as Belnap won the all-around title with 36.600 points, winning both the uneven bars and balance beam events. Belnap scored a 9.250 in the uneven bars and a 9.500 on the balance beam, helping Minot United win its first meet of the season.

Minot United finished with a team score of 142.300 in the five-team events. Bismarck Century took second with 139.200 points. Mandan (137.450), Bismarck Legacy (129.800) and Bismarck High (66.050) rounded out the team scoring.

Teammate Keira Davis claimed the top spot in the vault, scoring a 9.050. Bismarck Century’s Bree Wilmes won the floor exercise with a 9.700, denying Minot United a clean sweep of all the events. Belnap fared the best for Minot United in the floor exercise with a 9.150 score, good for fourth place.

Minot United placed at least two gymnasts in the top five of the vault, uneven bars and balance beam. They placed three in the uneven bars with Pavyn Peterson (8.750) and Davis (8.700) finishing third and fourth, respectively.

Belnap won the all-around title over Century’s Haley Nelson, who scored 35.950 points. She finished second in the vault and uneven bars, fifth on the balance beam and eighth in the floor exercises.

Meet-host Mandan got a third-place finish in the all-around from Haylee McGrane. Her best event came in the floor exercise, where she took third with a 9.650. Sophia Goldade was Legacy’s top gymnast as was Kailey Belile for Bismarck High, taking the top spot in all events for their respective teams. Goldade was fifth in the all-around and Belile was 13th.