SIOUX FALLS — A strong performance on the balance beam helped the Mitchell High School gymnastics team claim the Lolly Forseth Invitational Saturday at Sioux Falls Lincoln.
The Kernels scored 145.800 points as a team, which was more than three full points ahead of second-place Sioux Falls O'Gorman (142.650). Watertown was third with 140.800 points in the 11-team event.
But nearly all of that separation in the team score margin can be sourced to a terrific team effort on beam, where Mitchell scored 37.900 points, 2.7 points ahead of the next closest team (Watertown).
MHS' Bentley Bates had a score of 9.650 to win the event, followed by teammate Emily Moody in second place (9.500) and Maddison Lord in third place (9.450). Olivia Prunty had a score of 9.300 to round out Mitchell's scoring on the beam, finishing in a tie for fifth place individually.
Bates was Mitchell's top all-around individual scorer, with a overall mark of 37.150, finishing in tie for third place. Prunty was fifth overall with a score of 35.700 and Kyra Gropper was 11th in the all-around (34.700). The O'Gorman duo of Maeve Boetel (37.550) and Audrey Meyer (37.200) took the top-two spots in the all-around. Meyer won the floor exercise with a 9.650, and Boetel won the uneven bars (9.200).
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Mitchell also had the day's top score on the floor exercise with 37.250, with Bates posting a third-place score (9.500) and Sidney Maide tying for fourth place in the floor exercise (9.400). Bates also was third in the uneven bars with a score of 8.900.
Joslin Sommerville was the Kernels' top scorer on the vault (9.200), good for seventh place in an event won by Boetel (9.800).
