Dickinson's Fossum wins 3rd straight all-around title; Kessel claims title in floor exercise

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VALLEY CITY — For the third consecutive year, Dickinson freshman Acacia Fossum was crowned the all-around state gymnastics champion.

It marked the first time in Kent Van Ells’ 29-year coaching career he’s had a three-peat all-around champion.

Fossum used a score of 38.333 to edge Bismarck High’s Kaylee Keller and Bismarck Century’s Jessica Gabriel by .283 points to win the all-around title at the North Dakota state gymnastics meet on Saturday at Valley City High School.

“She was workman-like,” Van Ells said. “There was a determination when it came to each event and it showed. It’s a rare accomplishment.”

Despite Fossum only winning the all-around title, she finished in the top five in all five of the individual events, including runner-up in the balance beam and floor exercise.

“I wish I would have scored higher on bars, but I wasn’t mad about anything I did today,” said Fossum, who attends Richardton-Taylor High School. “All-around was the main thing I was shooting for.”

In the three years she’s competed at the high school level, Fossum now has three all-around titles, two in the floor exercise and one balance beam title.

Fossum, however, said there was a little different aura around the team this year. It was a boost of confidence after winning the state team title on Friday.

“After the past couple years when we came up second, we were kind of bummed on individual day,” Fossum said. “This year it really showed that we had that extra confidence.”

Dickinson junior Mikaela Kessel won the floor title with a 9.767, defeating Bismarck Century’s Jessica Gabriel and Fossum by one tenth of a point. Kessel finished ninth in the all-around (36.817).

Gabriel won the title in the uneven bars with a 9.733 while Fargo’s Faith Marty was the only two-event championship, claiming titles in the beam (9.717) and vault (9.567)

Though it didn’t count toward any type of title, the Dickinson gymnastics team also placed first in the team score with a 113.517, beating Bismarck by more than two points (111.417). Century rounded out the top three teams with a 110.167. The key was the Midgets five all-around competitors.

“We had five girls score extremely well,” Van Ells said. “The top 15 placed and we had four or five placers on every event. It was outstanding.”

Chantal Urlacher, who during the Fern Pokorny Meet on Jan. 26 said her goal at the beginning of the season was to hit a 36. The senior from Dickinson Trinity did that and more. She supplied an all-around score of 37.1 to tie for seventh place with teammate Keana Kudrna.

“I felt that I went out the way that I needed to and more,” Urlacher said. “I wanted to go out with a bang is what I kept telling everybody. I exceeded felt like I exceeded mine and everyone else’s expectations.

“When we heard that we tied right after the meet, our faces were both beaming with a smile. It was exciting just to be able to stand up there with a teammate and a teammate that I’m really close to.”

Mckenzie Kostelecky, a senior at Trinity, finished 12th in the all-around (36.483) and her highest place was seventh in the vault (9.433).

Urlacher and Kostelecky helped the Midgets win the team title during their seventh-grade season which also happened to be in Valley City. To close out the season with a state team title and all-around solid performance in Valley City, Urlacher wouldn’t have changed anything.

“I wouldn’t change anything about this weekend,” Urlacher said. “Kenzie and I always talked about how much we wanted to win that state championship in the same town in our last year. It was really special.”

North Dakota state gymnastics meet

At Valley City High School

Team scores: Dickinson 113.517, Bismarck High 111.417, Bismarck Century 110.167, Minot 108.183, Fargo 107.567, Jamestown 107.033, Valley City 104.717, Wahpeton 68.317, Grand Forks 59.467, Fargo Davies 54.417, Mandan 43.083.

All around

1, Acacia Fossum, D, 38.333. T2, Kaylee Keller, B, 38.050; Jessica Gabriel, C, 38.050. 4, Alex Lind, J, 37.767. 5, Faith Marty, F, 37.317. T6, Chantal Urlacher, D, 37.1; Keana Kudrna, D, 37.1. 8, Kaitlin Kelley, B, 37.017. 9, Mikaela Kessel, D, 36.817. 10, Kiara Bock, FD, 36.650. 11, Whitney Perrin, C, 36.533. 12, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 36.483. 13, Hannah Werchau, M, 36.417. 14, Megan Kelley, B, 36.350. 15T, Tori Carroll, F, and Madison Reiter, M, 35.917.

Other Dickinson finishers: 27, Jill Mueller, 32.750.

Vault

1, Faith Marty, F, 9.567. 2, Tori Carroll, F, 9.500. T3, Kaitlin Kelley, 9.483; Acacia Fossum, D, 9.483. T5, Keana Kudrna, D, 9.467; Whitney Perrin, C, 9.467. 7, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 9.433. 8, Hannah Werchau, M, 9.400. T9, Chantal Urlacher, D, 9.367; Jessica Gabriel, 9.367. 11T, Kaylee Keller, D, 9.333; Alex Lind, J, 9.333. 13, Mikaela Kessel, D, 9.250. 14, Leigh Bauer, FD, 9.167. 15, Erin Hillerud, J, 9.150.

Other Dickinson finishers: 26, Makenzie Heiser, D, 8.967.

Uneven bars

1, Jessica Gabriel, C, 9.733. 2, Kaylee Keller, B, 9.717. 3, Alex Lind, J, 9.650. 4, Acacia Fossum, 9.583. 5, Keana Kudrna, D, 9.433. 6, Chantal Urlacher, D, 9.383. 7, Rebekah Fisher, VC, 9.150. 8, Kiara Bock, FD, 9.083. 9, Kaitlin Kelley, B, 8.950. 10, Hannah Werchau, M, 8.900. 11, Sophia Thompson, C, 8.883. 12, Megan Kelley, B, 8.867. 13, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 8.850. 14, Whitney Perrin, C, 8.833. T15, Mikaela Kessel, D, and Madison Reiter, M, 8.750.

Other Dickinson finishers: 17, Jenna Mueller, 8.617.

Balance beam

1, Faith Marty, F, 9.717. 2, Acacia Fossum, D, 9.617. 3, Kaylee Keller, B, 9.583. 4, Kaitlin Kelley, B, 9.467. 5, Jessica Gabriel, C, 9.300. T6, Alex Lind, J, 9.200; Chantal Urlacher, D, 9.200. 8, Whitney Perrin, C, 9.183. 9, Sophia Thompson, C, 9.167. 10, Hannah Werchau, M, 9.150. 11, Megan Kelley, B, 9.133. 12, Kiara Bock, FD, 9.050. 13, Mikaela Kessel, D, 9.050. 14, Jenna Breuer, M, 9.033. 15, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 9.017.

Other Dickinson finishers: 19, Keana Kudrna, 8.750.

Floor exercise

1, Mikaela Kessel, D, 9.767. T2, Jessica Gabriel, C, 9.650; Acacia Fossum, D, 9.650. 4, Alex Lind, J, 9.583. 5, Faith Marty, F, 9.567. 6, Keana Kudrna, D, 9.450. 7, Kaylee Keller, B, 9.417. T8, Madison Reiter, M, 9.367; Kiara Bock, FD, 9.367. 10, Madie Uglem, F, 9.300. 11, Megan Kelley, B, 9.283. 12, Stephanie Huether, M, 9.267. 13, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 9.183. T14, Chantal Urlacher, D, and Natasha usselman, F, 9.150.

Other Dickinson finishers: T22, Jill Mueller, 8.800.

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