River Valley/ Barneveld gymnasts see busy week

The River Valley/Barneveld gymnastics team had a busy week this past week with a dual against the Southwestern area co-op on Monday and the Viroqua Invite on Friday. The girls won the dual against Southwestern, which is comprised of Southwestern, Cuba City, Benton, and Darlington, with a score of 125.7500 to 122.8250.  “I was a little nervous having three varsity gymnasts out for this meet due to injury and close contact quarantine,” said River Valley Barneveld head coach Julie Kuhse. “Our depth this year proved that we can weather the small storms and still be okay.” “Starting on bars,” said Kuhse, “Haylee Fruit hit her first of three personal bests for the night. Lily Borucki and Katie Forseth also had personal bests. Katie has been working hard on her connections and form this past week and we really needed her and Lily’s almost 2 point increase on their scores. Stephanie Limmex performed her kip for the first time. Ericka Heath made her uprise in practice this week, but wasn’t ready to perform it.” Individual results at the Southwest dual for the uneven bars are: McKenzie Kruse placed second with a score of 7.725, Sofia Sanftleben placed third with a score of 7.575, Emily Noble placed fourth with a score of 7.450, Morgan Bowell placed fifth with a score of 7.250, and Katie Forseth placed ninth with a score of 6.350.  “On vault,” continued Kuhse, “Lily hit her 2nd of 3 personal bests for the night. Since last meet, vault really clicked for her, and her form made a significant change. Sofia Sanftleben also hit her PB. Sofia is on the verge of her new vault, as is McKenzie Kruse.” Individual results at the Southwest dual for the vault are: McKenzie Kruse placed second with a score of 8.200, Sofia Sanftleben placed fourth with a score of 8.150, Katie Forseth placed fifth with a score of 8.100, Emily Noble placed seventh with a score of 8.000, and Morgan Bowell placed ninth with a score of 7.600.  “Third round was floor,” described Kuhse. “This event is ever changing for the girls, depending on the condition of the spring floor. Some floors are less/more stiff, react much differently than what we practice on.  Since we do not get to practice on a spring floor, it is hard for the girls to adjust for a meet. We have to change our routines on the fly. Despite that, all 5 JV girls scored their personal best as well as Sofia on varsity.” Individual results at the Southwest dual for the floor exercise are: Sofia Sanftleben placed second with a score of 8.500, Emily Noble tied for fifth with Katie Forseth with 8.175 points each, Morgan Bowell placed seventh with a score of 7.800, and McKenzie Kruse placed eighth with a score of 7.650. “Beam was a tough final event for us,” said Kuhse. “We had many falls - Sofia had the only no fall routine. Stephanie Limmex and Haylee Fruit still scored their personal best. SW has a new reflex beam, which again reacts much differently than our old stationary beam.” Individual results at the Southwest dual for the balance beam are: Sofia Sanftleben placed first with a score of 8.500, Emily Noble placed third with a score of 7.750, McKenzie Kruse placed fifth with a score of 7.450, Katie Forseth placed seventh with a score of 6.950, and Lily Boucki placed tenth with a score of 6.100. Friday night River Valley/Barneveld traveled to the Viroqua Invite to face off against Viroqua, Onalaska/Luther, Arcadia, and Westby. River Valley Barneveld took second place with 126.675 points, just behind Viroqua with 129.2750 points. Each team was allowed seven competitors with the top four varsity scores counting towards the team score. This was the first loss of the season for the RVB girls.  “We’ve had the same event rotation the last two invites,” said Kuhse, “so the girls are pretty comfortable with it. Due to injuries and close contact quarantines, some JV girls saw some varsity action.” “Stephanie Limmex started us out on floor first round,” explained Kuhse, “with Lily Borucki following. We felt all floor scores were low. We do have some landings we can work on and amplitude on some skills, but the choreography is in place. Morgan Bowell had the only floor personal best with 8.15.” Individual results at the Viroqua Invite for the floor exercise are: Sofia Sanftleben placed seventh with a score of 8.125, Morgan Bowell placed ninth with a score of 8.075, Katie Forseth placed 10th with a score of 8.025, McKenzie Kruse placed 11th with a score of 7.825, and Emily Noble placed 12th with a score of 7.800.  “Vault was a good round for us,” said Kuhse. “We had 5 of 7 hitting personal bests - Allison, Katie, Emily, Sofia, Morgan. We worked hard controlling steps on our landings, and those tenths add up.”  Individual results at the Viroqua Invite for the vault are: Sofia Sanftleben placed first with a score of 8.475, Katie Forseth and Emily Noble tied for fourth place with 8.325 points, Morgan Bowell placed eighth with a score of 8.150, and McKenzie Kruse placed ninth with a score of 8.125.  In the uneven bars “Haylee Fruit stepped in for varsity competition and hit her personal best, along with Emily, Katie, Sofie and McKenzie,” reported Kuhse. Individual results at the Viroqua Invite for the uneven bars are: Sofia Sanftleben placed third with a score of 7.950, McKenzie Kruse placed fourth with 7.750 points, Emily Noble placed seventh with a score of 7.700, Morgan Bowell placed 10th with a score of 7.100, and Katie Forseth placed 14th with a score of 6.550. In the balance beam “Lily Borucki had a no fall routine,” said Kuhse “and while it wasn’t her PB score, it was her best routine to date.  Morgan also had a personal best. We are getting better with falls, but they have a significant impact on our team score.  Sofia finished the round with a no fall routine.” Individual results at the Viroqua Invite for the balance beam are: Katie Forseth placed third with a score of 8.100, Sofia Sanftleben placed fifth with a score of 8.025, Emily Noble placed eighth with a score of 7.575, and Morgan Bowell and McKenzie Kruse tied for 11th place with 7.150 points.  Individual results at the Viroqua Invite for the all-around are: Sofia Sanftleben placed fourth with an overall score of 32.575, Emily Noble placed sixth with an overall score of 31.400, Katie Forseth placed seventh with an overall score of 31.000, McKenzie Kruse placd ninth with an overall score of 30.875, and Morgan Bowell placed tenth with an overall score of 30.475.  “Overall, it was a good meet for us,” said Kuhse. “We had our season high on vault, bars, and team score. With three varsity gymnasts out, that says a lot for our depth and our performance.” This week is a bye week for the gymnasts. The next competition for the girls is Monday, February 1, at home against Dodgeville. That week they will also travel to Platteville on Saturday for their invitational.