Eagles gymnasts edge Baraboo, place fourth at Platteville Invite

Sauk Prairie’s girls gymnastics team will host the Badger Conference meet Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. And the Eagles will bring arguably their best team ever to the conference meet. “Conference should be pretty exciting, as it will really matter who shows up to perform that day,” Eagles coach Justine Anderson said. “Several teams are very close in scores, so it should be a tight race! It is a great year to be able to host and have the energy that comes with being with your home crowd.” The Eagles had another terrific week, and will head to the conference meet with a world of momentum. Here’s a recap of the Eagles’ week: Sauk Prairie 133.550, Baraboo 133.5250 The Eagles edged the Thunderbirds by 0.025 in a thrilling meet on Feb. 8. McKenna Breunig was second in the all-around competition with a 34.750, while Claire Hartman was third (33.850) and Sara Nehring was fifth (33.10). “It proved to be a little bit of a challenge for the girls to compete after such a big win on Saturday,” Anderson said of her team, which had won the River Valley Invite five days earlier. “You could tell they had high expectations for themselves and it took a bit for them to settle into the competition. We had a few missed skills or connections that cost us a couple of points in total, but still came out with a very respectable score and a very narrow win.” Hartman was second on the vault (8.250), while Breunig was third (8.150), Kylee Ballweg was fifth (8.0) and Addisyn Ranzenberger was sixth (7.850). Breunig was third on the bars (8.450), while Nehring was fourth (8.450), Hartman was fifth (8.10) and Ballweg was seventh (7.650). Breunig was second on the beam (9.10), while Hartman was fourth (8.60), Nehring was sixth (8.0) and Lauren Uselman was seventh (7.950). And on the floor exercise, Breunig was second (9.050), Nehring was third (9.0), Hartman was fourth (8.90) and Ranzenberger was ninth (8.050). “The girls are  proving to be more and more consistent and confident on floor, and McKenna, Sara, and Claire all scored right around a 9.0,” Anderson said. “Reedsburg had a great night, and the energy that came from it being their parent and senior night was fun to watch.”        PLATTEVILLE      INVITATIONAL The Eagles finished in fourth place at the star-studded, 10-team event. Mount Horeb took first with a 138.70, while Dodgeville’s co-op (134.750), Baraboo (134.050), Sauk Prairie (134.0) and Southwestern’s co-op (130.750) rounded out the top five. Breunig (34.350), Nehring (33.9250) and Hartman (33.150) all excelled in the all-around. Breunig and Ballweg tied for the Eagles’ top vault score (8.150), while Nehring posted an 8.10 and Hartman scored a 7.950. Nehring led the Eagles on the bars (8.60), while Breunig (8.350), Hartman (8.30) and Ballweg (8.0750) all had scores that counted. Breunig scored an 8.80 on the beam, while Nehring (8.450), Ballweg (8.0) and Hartman (7.90) had scores that counted. And on the floor, Breunig led the way with a 9.050, Hartman scored a 9.0, Nehring posted an 8.7750, and both Ranzenberger and Uselman scored 8.30. “The quality of the girls’ bar routines was great and they were swinging much better and almost broke the school record for the team bar score (short by 0.175),” Anderson said. “We had a few falls on beam that cost us second place (2.0 points in just falls!), but then finished with a bang on floor. It’s becoming more enjoyable with each competition to watch these girls on floor as they start really trusting their routines and finally having some fun! We did get quite a few girls on the podium as well.”