The Jefferson Gymnastics team has closed out a strong season that began in early November. The team did not conduct tryouts, but the first weeks were spent on strength and conditioning.
The team had six varsity gymnasts this year. Aubrey Whittington was a strong competitor on the vault and floor events. Eliza Dahl dominated on bars while Jirah Justin performed well on beam. Baya Carlson overall was a strong competitor in each event.
Coach Kevin Knapp stated, “In order to improve throughout the season, the level of difficulty needs to increase for each event. Physically, the most challenging event to improve is bars, and, mentally, the most demanding event is beam. The team this year has scored higher than they ever have in the history of JHS.” The team placed fourth at the home metro meet and fifth at the Huron invitational. Their highest team score of the season was 135.8 which is a new school record.
Jefferson scored 135.55 at the state qualifier held at Lincoln High School, which was their second highest score of the season. Although the score was not high enough to qualify for state as a team, three individuals qualified on individual events: senior Aubrey Whittington on vault, freshman Baya Carlson on bars, and eighth grader Eliza Dahl on bars.The state meet was held on February 14-15 in Watertown, and Baya placed 10th in bars with a score of 9.1.
Knapp, who has been coaching gymnastics since 2010, stated, “I think the demand for this sport is often overlooked. I have coached three sports at the high school and college level (football, gymnastics, and track), and gymnastics is the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging sport.”
