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Last years Below Zero Gymnastics invite was cancelled because, well, you know why, that pesky virus that will not leave people alone. That made the return of the Below Zero Invite that much more special for the competitors.

12 teams participated in the almost day long invite. Gymnastics has four different events, so there can be four teams competing at once. Floor, Balance Beam, Uneven Bars and Vault. While four of the teams were on the competition floor, four others were on the warmup floor and the remaining four were in their assigned locker rooms. It was a fast-paced event that kept moving well and was well organized even though it looked like total chaos.

When the day was said and done, The Wayzata Trojans took first place overall with a score of 145.850, The Wolfpack finished eighth overall with a score of 131.150.

Here is the complete list of scores.

1. Wayzata Trojans – 145.850 2. Stillwater Ponies – 144.600 3. Rosemount Gymnastics – 143.600 4. Sartell – St. Stephen – 140.950 5. Lakeville South Cougars – 140.400 6. East Ridge Raptors – 139.200 7. Eden Prairie Eagles – 131.650 8. Park Wolfpack – 131.150 9. Austin Packers – 125.650 10. Woodbury Royals – 125.450 11. SP Highland Scots – 116.800 12. Roseville Raiders – 114.850 Park finished seventh in the vault with 35.900 and seventh in bars with 31.150. They finished ninth on beam with 30.400 and fifth on floor with 33.700.

Head Coach Ali Flaata took a moment to explain what the invite means to the team and how the season is looking. “We’re just happy to be able to host this big Invitational after you know, the past two years. It’s really fun to have all the teams back in here and a chance for both our varsity and our JV to compete at the same time. They’re feeling good and they love being able to compete in front of spectators because last year we didn’t have any at any of our meets. So, this is it gives just that extra little oomph to all their routines. Overall for the season, we’re doing very well. We’re increasing our score every meet. We did have a couple out this meet with injury and COVID protocol, but we should be fully healthy by sections. So yeah, we’re hoping to do well.”

The girls will host East Ridge in a dual meet on January 27, 6:00 p.m. and then travel to Stillwater for a dual on February 3, also at 6:00 p.m. The section meet is February 11, 5:30 p.m. at Two Rivers High School.

Emily Dahlstrom hits her flip as Coach Flaata watches and spots her on the Vault at Saturdays invite. Photo by Bruce Karnick.