Gymnastics team begins season

The River Valley/Barneveld High School girls gymnastics team had its first meet of the season last week, a dual at Sauk Prairie. River Valley won the dual narrowly with a score of 123.8 to Sauk Prairie’s 120.1.  Things are very different this year for the gymnasts. River Valley/Barneveld head coach Julie Kuhse said, “There was no march in, just a verbal presentation of teams. There was no crowd. There were no high fives, fist bumps, or hugs. We had masks, sani-wipes, and Facebook Live. We had girls competing for the first time. Girls competing events where they needed spotting.  Girls throwing skills they just achieved the day before the meet.  Spending extra time in order to get the required number of practices in so they were eligible to compete. Packed it all in on the first meet, because...who knows.  But, we have a season, and for this we are thankful. “I think I was just as nervous as the girls,” continued Kuhse. “Their first meet, and me worrying about the new sanitizing protocol, hoping we remembered everything. Our med kit got a lot bigger this year!” The meet started with the uneven bars. “We started on bars and a couple of the girls did not have routines ‘ready,’ but we competed everyone,” said Kuhse. Individual results for the uneven bars are: Emily Noble placed first with a score of 7.525. Sofia Sanftleben placed second with a score of 7.375. Madison Krey and McKenzie Kruse tied for third place with 7.15 and 7.175 points respectively. Caitlin Wastlik had a score of 6.75.  Next in the meet was the vault. “We have new vaults from last year, and working on some flipping vaults we’ll hopefully have by tournament time,” said Kuhse. Individual results for the vault are: McKenzie Kruse placed third with 8.200 points. Caitlin Wastlick had a score of 8.100 points. Lily Borucki had a score of 7.200 points. Emily Noble had a score of 8.100 points. Sofia Sanftleben had a score of 7.95 points.  Third for the girls was the floor routine. “Our girls put so much into the choreography portion of their routine,” said Kuhse, “they are so entertaining!  We have all different genres of music. We need some work on our leaps/jumps and connections yet, but mentally getting through 90 seconds of a new floor routine is a chore in itself. Now - to polish.” Individual results for the floor routine are: McKenzie Kruse placed second with a score of 8.325. Caitlin Wastlick had a score of 7.525. Madison Krey had a score of 7.525. Emily Noble had a score of 7.825. Sofia Sanftleben had a score of 8.100. The final event of the evening was the balance beam. “We have a lot of skills on beam that are not quite there, “ said Kuhse, “some tumbling, higher level jumps, and dismounts. Even with our ‘basic’ start, we did well. We had several no fall routines, an area we struggle.” Individual results for the balance beam are: Emily Noble and Sofia Sanftleben tied for first place with 7.900 points. Madison Krey had 7.250 points. Lily Borucki had 6.000 points. McKenzie Kruse had 7.400 points.  Individual results for the all around: Emily Noble had 31.350 total points for second place. Sofia Sanftleben had 31.325 total points for third place. McKenzie Kruse had 31.100 total points, just missing out on placing.  “We are not at full strength. Lorisa Shatrawka came into the season with a significant injury and we are hoping to welcome her back to competition soon. We have a couple of girls quarantined and expect them by the next meet. It’s exciting to think of where this season can lead us,”  concluded Kuhse. The next meet for the girls is scheduled for January 9.