River Falls gymnastics, a team that has called itself the “Lucky Seven” representing its seven gymnasts, won its Sectional in Ashland over the weekend to advance to State with a total …
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River Falls gymnastics, a team that has called itself the “Lucky Seven” representing its seven gymnasts, won its Sectional in Ashland over the weekend to advance to State with a total score of 136.300.
Rice Lake finished close behind with 135.950. After those two squads, the next closest team was eight full points behind the Wildcats.
“Especially with a small team of seven, at least for coaches, hopefully it puts into perspective to the girls that the hard work that they’ve put in during the season, sometimes the season can get long, sometimes it can get repetitive, but hopefully it shows them that all the things that we’ve been doing, all the things that we expect of them, it can pay off,” Head Coach Bridgette Lensing said.
River Falls started the day on beam, an event they prefer not to start or end on because of how impactful it is on final scores. They did what they had to do on beam to set themselves up within striking distance of a win.
“We did fairly well on beam,” Lensing said. “But, compared to the weekend before, maybe not the beam we had.”
The Wildcats then had one of their strongest events, floor, to find the energy and confidence for the final rotations. They closed strongly with solid performances on vault and bars to secure the top spot. River Falls scored 34.650 on vault, 32.575 on bars, 33.125 on beam and 35.950 on floor.
“Everyone’s important,” Lensing said. “We don’t have 15 people that we can put through a lineup, we have seven. So, everyone’s job on this team is important.”
It was not just the team that did what it had to do, as Ruby Amundson (vault, bars, beam, floor and all-around), Tirfe L’Allier (vault and floor) and Bella Franklin (beam and floor) will all be competing at State individually based on their Sectional finishes.
Amundson and Franklin are both freshmen, getting a chance to pick up State experience with three more years to go.
“Especially as freshmen, that’s a huge accomplishment,” Lensing said. “Hopefully then, as they continue through their years, they can keep pushing themselves.”
L’Allier is a sophomore who has reached State thanks to increased confidence and a whole lot of hard work.
“She has really started to gain some self-confidence,” Lensing said. “It shows that when you have that confidence in yourself and you’re able to put your best routines forward, that hard work, all those corrections, all those things that we might nag on them about or they might see it as nagging, it’s going to pay off.”
Lensing said they have a fighting chance for a podium spot at State, but it is going to take a lot of work in the final three practices.
“What that means is, this last week, we’re not going to be able to just go through the motions,” Lensing said. “We’re tired. The girls are tired. They’ve put in a lot of work. Their bodies are feeling it, but we do have one more week. The last week of the season isn’t always guaranteed.”
State takes place Friday and Saturday at Wisconsin Rapids with the team competition Friday and individual Saturday.