Eagles’ gymnasts off to flying start

Sauk Prairie’s girls gymnastics team enjoyed a sensational 2023-2024 season. By the looks of it, the Eagles could be poised for another big year. Sauk Prairie went to the West Salem Invite last Saturday and finished third out of seven teams. West Salem (136.550) and Holmen (132.00) were first and second, while the Eagles were a close third (131.725). “Our team was only 0.075 away from coming home with a trophy,” Sauk Prairie coach Justine Anderson said. “With both West Salem and Holmen being talented D1 schools, it was exciting to be so close. “We came away incredibly impressed with the quality of the routines the girls put out for the first meet of the season, and it is certainly very exciting to start off this way. We have big goals this year, and this is certainly setting the stage to get us there.” McKenna Breunig had a tremendous meet and won the all-around competition with a 35.1250 score. That was 0.150 points better than runner-up Anya Seefrood of River Valley/Barneveld (34.9750). “McKenna has grown immensely in her ability to handle the stressors of competition and it really showed,” Anderson said. Breunig was first on the vault with a new school record of 9.050. Claire Hartman scored an 8.250, Addisyn Ranzenberger posted an 8.0 and Lyla Annen scored a 7.650. “We have a couple of girls really close to really good vaults, but need a little time,” Anderson said. “All five girls are working new twisting vaults and are just shy of making the full twist, but when they get it, it will add immensely to our team score.” Breunig was fourth on the bars with an 8.250, while Hartman was 11th (7.90), Annen was 13th (7.750) and Kylee Ballweg was 15th (7.650). “Although five out of five girls hit their bar routines, the scores they received were lower than expected,” Anderson said. “The rules have changed this year and judges continue to comment on how hard it is going to be to score well on bars this year. But the girls still have expectations to be scoring what they have in the past, so it will take some time to adjust.  “It was a good reminder that we cannot control the scores, only the quality of the routine we put out. They did incredibly well, especially for the first meet of the season.” Breunig was also third on the balance beam with an 8.550 and Hartman tied for fifth (8.275). Lauren Uselman was eighth (8.050) and Annen scored a 6.625. “The beam scores were much lower than we are used to, and McKenna placed third with only an 8.55, so the judges were at least consistently tough all day,” Anderson said. “It very fun to watch how calm the last three girls were, and despite the lower scores, nice to see them nail a routine so early in the season.” And on the floor, Hartman tied for fifth with a 9.350 and Breunig was seventh (9.275). Both of those scores broke the previous school record. Uselman was also 14th (8.70) and Annen was 19th (8.40). “Floor was incredible,” Anderson said. “Four of our five girls got a personal best score, including two of the girls (McKenna and Claire) breaking the previous floor school record of a 9.2.  “McKenna broke it first with a 9.275, then Claire went next and came out with 9.35. I couldn’t have asked for a better floor set, especially at the first meet.”