The Owatonna High School Gymnastics team competed at the Class AA State Meet for both team and individuals. The team meet was on Friday Feb. 21 and the individuals were on Friday, Feb. 22. The team put in an outstanding amount of work to achieve this goal of theirs to make it to the state championship.
The goal from the beginning was to make it to the state championship and win the Class AA title. The team did just that after working tirelessly on their individuals to place in the championship. History was made both nights of the state competition as the team won first place along with freshman Delia Neumann winning the first place class AA beam title.
Freshman Delia Neumann said, “I walked out of the meet with first on beam and fifth on bars so I was super impressed and happy with myself.”
There were three recognized gymnasts from OHS who made the podium at this meet. Senior Captain Jozie Johnson got eighth place on vault. Junior Chloe Myer placed third on beam, and again, freshman Delia Neumann placed first on beam and fifth on bars at the Individual State Tournament.
Junior Chloe Myer said, “I took a lot of my time on beam and put in a lot of reps of my routines.”
The gymnastics team has 3 graduating seniors this year who are all moving onto bigger things after their career at OHS. Senior captains Averie Roush, Halle Theis and Jozie Johnson had their last high school meet on Feb. 22 at the Individual State Tournament.
Roush said her favorite memory was, “Being able to grow up with my best friends in this incredible sport and the valuable lessons this sport has taught me along the way.”
Theis said her favorite memory of her gymnastics career was, “Being able to stick my beam routine at team state, as it was the last routine of the meet and that made it possible for my team to get that state title.”
Johnson said her favorite memory was, “Definitely winning state my senior year with my teammates, with all the hard work and determination we have to put in this season.”
The coaches and Activities Director Mr. Marc Achterkirch put together a ‘Welcome Home Celebration’ at the OHS to congratulate the gymnasts for the amount of hard work they have put into the season. At this event Mr. Achterkirch congratulated all the gymnasts and announced the gymnasts by their name. Principal Kory Kath spoke a little about the gymnasts academic awards at this event too.
The team had their struggles throughout the season. They pushed through sickness and injury, but multiple girls on the team said that pushing through was worth it and in the end they won a state championship and again made history at Owatonna High School.
Roush said, “To win a state is so amazing but to know that we made history is even more memorable.” She added, “As a senior and becoming the first ever team to win this award is something I will never ever forget and it was a great way to go out.”
The Owatonna Gymnastics team’s season ended in a memorable victory with a state championship and making history.
