Mike Kraft/MDN Minot United’s Gracyn Bergan competes on the balance beam during the Magi Bowl on Friday, Feb. 6, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Bergan finished tied for sixth in the event.

Mike Kraft/MDN
Minot United’s Gracyn Bergan competes on the balance beam during the Magi Bowl on Friday, Feb. 6, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. Bergan finished tied for sixth in the event.

The Minot United gymnastics team didn’t believe they had the best showing in their only home meet of the season, but yet it still resulted in a familiar outcome with the team saving their best for the final event of the night.

After a night of ups and downs, Minot United found themselves in fourth place heading into the floor exercise routine, trailing Dickinson, Jamestown and Bismarck Century. Minot United hadn’t finished worse than second in any meet this season.

And they still haven’t. Minot United scored a 37.150 in the floor exercise, led by a 9.550 by Keira Davis and a 9.500 by Adylin Belnap as the team leapfrogged both Jamestown and Century to finish second at the Magi Bowl at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 6. Minot United finished with an overall score of 142.150, their third-highest total in a meet this season.

“We had some downs on bars and had a few falls on beam, but vault and floor were pretty good,” Minot United coach Cassie Davis said. “They bounced back after the falls. The floor exercise is their favorite and their best event.”

Dickinson won the event with a score of 150.600. Jamestown (140.725), Century (137.975) and Mandan (131.450) rounded out the top five. Nine teams across the West Region competed in the meet. Dickinson’s Aspen Roadarmel won the all-around title with a score of 38.775. Fellow Maverick Charlotte Haapapuro placed second at 37.600. Gracyn Bergan was Minot United’s top all-around performer, scoring a 36.050 to finish fourth. Davis also cracked the top 10 in the all-around, tying for sixth with a score of 35.800.

“I think we did pretty good,” Bergan said. “There were some falls, but we bounced back with floor. I think floor was our strongest because we get to see our personalities in our routines.”

Minot United opened their home meet on vault, with Bergan and Davis tying for the second-best score. Both gymnasts scored a 9.250 as Minot United finished second overall in the event with a team score of 35.400.

“It wasn’t the best that I would have hoped for, but I showed all my friends the best I could and tried my best,” Keira Davis said. “Our events didn’t go as we planned, but we tried to keep the energy up and finish off strong.”

The toughest aspect of the night for Minot United came on the uneven bars, managing to post a score of just 33.850, nearly five points behind Dickinson and 0.400 back of Jamestown. Minot United didn’t have a gymnast place in the top five. Bergan tied for sixth with Jamestown’s Aubrey Krapp with an 8.750 and Cadence Bagi was ninth with an 8.650.

The balance beam produced a higher team score for Minot United with a 35.750, but that too was only good for third amongst the field and Minot United only placed one gymnast in the top 10. That belonged to Belnap, who claimed a ninth-place finish with a score of 9.150.

Hosting an event comes with its share of excitement, getting to compete in front of friends and family, but it also generates a lot of nerves, wanting to give the best performance possible.

“It’s kind of scary, but it’s fun,” Belnap said. “Before I compete, I close my eyes and envision my routine and take a couple breaths. My day was pretty good. I had a couple mess-ups, but overall it was pretty good.”

The Mavericks had the top team score in all four events, but Minot United nearly clipped them in both the vault and floor exercise, falling short by 0.300 and 0.600, respectively. Minot United has now finished runner-up in six of seven meets this season. Their lone win came at the Mandan Christmas meet without Dickinson nor Jamestown in the field. They also have a pair of dual victories this season.

Minot United’s team score was the third-highest of the season, bested only during the Mandan Christmas Meet (142.300) on Dec. 19 and the Mandan Meet (142.775) on Jan. 15, both at Starion Sports Complex.

For Dickinson, it was business as usual. The 10-time defending state champions remained perfect on the season with its 10th meet victory of the season in as many appearances. The Mavericks have also won three duals.

“We have so much depth and when we hit our routines, we are really, really good,” Roadarmel said. “I think it’s just the fact of getting further into the season and getting to showcase all of our talent and the girls hitting their routines and getting the scores that they want, I think that’s the most rewarding part.”

Roadarmel captured her 11th all-around title this season, winning the vault (9.650), balance beam (9.775) and floor exercise (9.700) and placing second on the uneven bars (9.650). Teammate Brooklyn Warner won the uneven bars event with a 9.850. The Mavericks dominated both the balance beam and the uneven bars. They had the top five scores on beam and the top four marks on the uneven bars.

“I think all in all we did really, really well,” Roadarmel said. “We had the best beam rotation we’ve had all year. I was really proud of us. We came to an away meet and we competed really well.”

Roadarmel posted her career-best on the beam, an event she said isn’t her strongest among the four.

Roadarmel recorded her second-highest all-around score this season. Her best came in a dual against Mandan when she scored a 39.200. For the season, Roadarmel averages an all-around score of 38.425.

“For me, I don’t really like to think about it,” Roadarmel said. “I take it one event at a time and whatever the result is, that’s the result. I would really love to see some of my girls compete and some are really close and they can definitely beat me in the all-around. Sometimes, some meets aren’t the best and I would say that I’m very grateful to be on a team like Dickinson. I get a lot of support. Winning every meet doesn’t get old, but I don’t really focus on the all-around.”

Jamestown’s Sutton Van Gilder helped guide the Blue Jays to their fifth third-place finish of the season. She finished third in the all-around with a score of 36.075. She tied for fourth on vault (9.150) and placed fifth on bars (9.000). The Blue Jays had the second-best scores on both bars (34.250) and beam (36.575).

It was the fifth time this season that Dickinson, Minot United and Jamestown have finished 1-2-3.

Minot United closes out the regular season portion of their schedule with a dual against the Northwest Stars on Friday, Feb. 13, at Acro Stars Gymnastics in Ray.