Dickinson wins Milo Dullum meet

• Mikaela Kessel

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson sophomore Mikaela Kessel does a flip during her balance beam routine on Friday night during the Milo Dullum Invitational at Dickinson High School.

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The Dickinson High gymnastics team continued it’s season with a win thanks to some solid scores Friday night at the Dickinson High gymnasium.

The Midgets hosted the Milo Dullum Meet and won with a 147.575 team score, beating Rapid City (S.D.) Central, Rapid City Stevens and Jamestown.

Dickinson had a gymnast take first in every event, including the all-around, to win the meet after a close competition with Rapid City Central, who finished with 145.175 team points.

Thanks to high scores from Acacia Fossum, Mikaela Kessel and Shalesa Wariner, they did.

Wariner won Dickinson’s opening event by scoring a 9.600 on the vault. Kessel closed the meet with a winning 9.550 on the floor exercise.

Winning both of the events she struggled with last week, Fossum scored a 9.625 on the balance beam, and a 9.750 on the bars with a near perfect routine.

“I usually have problems with wobbling, but I didn’t fall,” Fossum said of her beam routine. “I was so happy.”

She also finished with a 38.225 all-around score, which was almost identical to her score in the all-around at last years state meet.

“When she hits her marks, she will be at the top of high school gymnastics,” Dickinson head coach Van Ells said. “She has the strongest routines in most of the events.”

The Midgets have a break until Dec. 20 when they travel to Bismarck.

“We need to keep working. Today was good, but we’re not done at all,” Van Ells said.

Dickinson was missing a consistent scorer in junior McKenzie Kostelecky, who sat out with a shoulder injury.

At the same time, junior Chantel Urlacher returned just two weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Urlacher tore her anterior cruciate ligament last December and has spent the past year recovering to be able to return this season.

“I was a little worried about the lack of depth with our team in this meet,” Van Ells said. “If we had a good day, I figured we could still score well.”

Milo Dullum Meet

At Dickinson High School

Team scores: 1, Dickinson 147.575, 2, Rapid City Central 145.175. 3, Jamestown 136.775. 4, Rapid City Stevens, 35.350.

All around

1, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 38.225. 2, McKinsey Kost, RCC, 36.825, 3, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 36.600. 4, Chelsey Christensen, RCC, 36.475. 5, Brandee Roach, RCC, 35.875. 6, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 35.800.

Vault

1, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.600. 2, McKinsey Kost, RCC, 9.575. 3, Chelsey Christensen, RCC 9.550. 4, Colette Christensen, RCC, 9.475. 5, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.450. 6, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 9.400.

Uneven bars

1, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.750. 2, McKinsey Kost, RCC, 9.150. 3, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 8.850. 4(tie), Alex Lind, JHS; Chelsey Christensen, RCC, 8.800. 6(tie), Mikaela Kessel, DHS; Colette Christensen, RCC, 8.750.

Balance beam

1, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.625. 2, Jenna Mueller, DHS, 9.500. 3, Brandee Roach, RCC, 9.425. 4, McKinsey Kost, RCC, 9.300. 5(tie), Mikaela Kessel, DHS; Katy Rath, RCS, 9.200.

Floor exercise

1, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 9.550. 2, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.400. 3(tie), Alex Lind, JHS; Chelsey Christensen, RCC, 9.200. 5(tie), Colette Christensen, RCC; Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.150.

Note: All the teams also had junior varsity competitors in the meet. Dickinson’s Makenzie Heiser won JV uneven bars with 8.050, and JV floor exercise with 7.800.

Tags: sports, gymnastics, midgets, preps