Dickinson beats Wahpeton in gymnastics opener

• Mikaela Kessel

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Dickinson sophomore Mikaela Kessel leaps on the balance beam Saturday at the Dickinson High School’s new gymnasium during the Midgets’ dual against Wahpeton. Kessel tied for the win in the all-around and won the balance beam and floor exercise.

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The Dickinson High gymnastics team opened it’s season with a win at home Saturday — but not in the way it had hoped.

The Midgets topped Wahpeton with a 145.025 team score. The Huskies totaled 129.123.

Dickinson swept the top three spots in each of the individual events and had the top five in the all-around, including a tie between sophomore Mikaela Kessel and eighth-grader Acacia Fossum for first place with 36.550 apiece.

Though the Midgets won the dual, it came with some hits and misses.

“It felt like a first meet for sure,” Dickinson head coach Kent Van Ells said. “Lots of misses, but we’re still hopeful. We still got a pretty good team score despite of everything.”

The misses Van Ells described stemmed from increasing the degree of difficulty in many of the Midgets’ routines.

Many of the gymnasts were trying new aspects to their routines.

“It’s not surprising with trying new things,” Van Ells said.

Fossum, the defending all-around state champion, had her share of misses. But she managed to take first on the uneven bars with a score of 9.050, even after a fall.

Fossum also won the vault with a 9.500.

“It wasn’t my best, but it wasn’t my worst,” Fossum said.

Kessel provided a strong performance in the floor exercise, scoring 9.500 and gave the Midgets a confident finish to the meet. She also took the top spot on the balance beam at 9.100.

“It felt good,” Kessel said. “I’ve worked hard on making sure I was consistent.”

Dickinson hosts its second meet of the season next Friday against Jamestown and Rapid City (S.D.) Central.

“We have to learn from this one, pick up where we left off and keep on improving,” Van Ells said. “I think it’s going to keep getting better.”

Dickinson Invitational

At Dickinson High

Team scores: 1, Dickinson 145.025. 2, Wahpeton 129.123.

All around

1 (tie), Mikaela Kessel, DHS, and Acacia Fossum, DHS, 36.550. 3, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 35.800. 4, Mckenzie Kostelecky, DHS, 34.700. 5, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 34.425. 6, Mikki Braun, WHS, 33.322.

Vault

1, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.500. 2, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.425. 3, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 9.225. 4, Mikki Braun, WHS, 9.175. 5, Mckenzie Kosetelecky, DHS, 9.075. 6, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 9.050.

Uneven bars

1, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.050. 2, Mckenzie Kostelecky, DHS, 8.900. 3, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 8.725. 4, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 8.100. 5, Lizzie Brown, WHS, 7.700. 6 (tie), Korin Wettig, WHS and Keana Kudrna, DHS, 7.600.

Balance beam

1, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 9.100. 2, Jenna Mueller, DHS, 9.075. 3, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.000. 4 (tie), Acacia Fossum, DHS, and Mckenzie Kostelecky, DHS, 8.800. 6, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 8.700.

Floor exercise

1, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 9.500. 2, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.275. 3, Acacia Fossum, 9.200. 4, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 9.075. 5, Sierra Roshau, 8.825. 6, Mikki Braun, WHS, 8.625.

Tags: sports, gymnastics, midgets, preps, updates