Mitchell gymnastics takes second behind Watertown

ABERDEEN — The Kernels gymnastics team took second place behind Watertown for the second time this season.

Watertown won the Hub City Invitational Saturday with a team score of 141.5, while Mitchell recorded a 140.2. Aberdeen took third with at 136.175.

“It’s nice to see that we’re still pretty far ahead of third place,” Mitchell coach Audra Rew said. “We’re where we want to be right now, and the kids are very excited about where they are.”

Even with a few falls, Rew is optimistic.

“We counted 2.5 points in falls on beam and a fall on floor,” she said. “I was happy with how they performed on beam. We were aggressive.We have a lot of new skills we want to put in their routines for the second half of the season.”

Senior Nicole Wittstruck took third place in the all-around with a 35.525.

“It’s always fantastic to see a senior do well,” Rew said. “She put a whole meet together and she was so excited. I think her performance is really going to positively affect her as we continue throughout the season.

Freshman Quinci Herll took first place on vault with a 9.45. Herll took a spill on the balance beam in the second rotation and was unable to finish her routine. She competed floor and vault afterward but was unable to earn an all-around score.

Rew said the Kernels are ready to push forth with the Mitchell Invitational coming up Saturday.

“The kids really want to improve and they’ve got the bug to chase Watertown,” she said. “They want to get after it and want to beat the top teams. That’s what we’ve been missing in the past few years.”

The Mitchell Invitational, which has 13 teams, begins at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Mitchell High School gymnasium.

Tags: sports, updates, mitchell, gymnastics