Park’s Ashley Lentz, Leah Smith and Rainna Jameson all qualified for the state gymnastics meet with top scores in the Section 3AA Championships held Friday at Two Rivers High School.

“Not a bad night,” said Park head coach Ali Flaata. “It was an awesome night. This is my seventh year and we’ve never taken more than two to state so we’re pretty excited about it.”

Lentz had the score of the night for Park with a second- place finish in the vault. She executed a new pike vault to make the Minnesota state meet for the third year with a score of 9.350.

Lentz performed just a single vault and nailed it with scores of 9.4 and 9.3.

“It was my best vault I’ve probably ever done,” said Lentz. “I upgraded my vault just this week and it was kind of awesome to see me land it. I did a different shape, instead of a tuck I did a pike so it’s a higher starting value.”

“She stuck it,” said Flaata. “She upgraded her vault over the past few weeks to a pike. The past two years she’s qualified in on a tuck. She’s been working super, super hard and it paid off.”

Jameson had a strong overall night in the all-around, capped by making the made state in the bars with an 8.6 score. She finished sixth in the all-around with a score of 34.400. Jameson had scores of 8.875 on the vault, 8.6 on bars, 8.075 on beam and 9.0 on the floor, finishing ninth overall. Only a slip on the beam kept Jameson from scoring even higher in the all-around.

“I’m happiest, probably, bars,” said Jameson. “It was probably the best routine I’ve ever done, and I was just staying really tight, and I was really happy about it.”

“She had a great meet,” Flaata said of Jameson. “She’s a little ninth grader and she’s super positive and just kind of goes with the flow and I think she’s very surprised to find herself in this position, especially on an event that’s not her best. But really exciting for her, too.”

Park’s Smith and Jameson advanced to state on the bars, Smith finished third overall with an 8.9 score, while Jameson was sixth on bars with an 8.6.

Smith had perhaps the best story of the night, coming back from a broken toe suffered just three weeks ago in practice to qualify in the only event she competed in Friday. She had scores of 9.0 and 8.8 to advance.

“She’s supposed to be in a boot right now, but her doctor said she could do gymnastics as tolerated. And for Leah, she can tolerate quite a bit,” said Flaata. “So, she is out there, and she did a great job. She narrowly missed it last year, she tied for sixth and the other girl won the tie-breaker, so she didn’t get to go. And so, its super exciting for her.”

“It’s been hard because I’ve been in a boot, but I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning and working out just to make sure my body would still be in shape just in case I would be able to do any events here,” said Smith.

“I felt really good just to do a successful last – well what I thought would be my last routine of the season,” Smith added.

The state meet will be held Feb. 18-19 this season at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. Park’s individuals will compete in the Class AA session starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19. The top team, top three individuals in the all-around and the top three non-all-around qualifiers in each event advance.

Park finished fourth in the team race won by Rosemount with a score of 143.225. Team scores were: 2, Eagan, 141.850. 3, East Ridge, 138.750. 4, Park, 136.075. 5, Two Rivers, 132.400. 6, Apple Valley/ Eastview, 128.725. 7, Hastings, 126.750. 8, Woodbury, 126.450.

Park’s best event was the vault where the Wolfpack scored a 35.625, finishing third overall in the event. Park had fourth-place team finishes on bars (32.800) and floor (34.650) and a sixth on beam (33.000). The Wolfpack had all five gymnasts score in the top 27 on the bars.

Emily Dahlstrom of the Wolfpack just missed a trip to state in the all-around, finishing tied for eighth with a score of 34.250. Dahlstrom had scores of 9.225 on floor, 8,825 on beam, 7.675 on bars and 8.425 on the vault. Aa usual, Dahlstrom had a strong floor routine, finishing seventh on the floor and gaining a ninth -place finish on the beam.

Dahlstrom was 21st on the bars (7.675), Lentz 22nd (7.625) and Natalya Rugel 27th (7.400).Natalya Rugel of Park had a strong night, finishing 13th in the all-around with a score of 32.750. She was seventh in the vault with an 8.975. Rugel was a solid 13th in the all-around with a score of 32.350.

Rugel was 25th on the floor (8.250), Lentz 26th (8.175) and Annelise Faletti 34th (7.775).

Park’s Kacie Diaz was 31st (7.975) and Ava Klecatsky was 35th on the beam (7.575). Klecatsky was also 38th in the vault (8.150).

Leah Smith of Park beams as she sticks her landing on the bars Friday in the 3AA Championships. Smith returned from suffering a broken toe three weeks ago to qualify for state on the bars with an 8.9 score. Photo by John Molene

Ashley Lentz of the Wolfpack is all smiles as she finished second in the vault at the Section 3AA championships and qualified for state.Photo by John Molene

Emily Dahlstrom shows perfect balance on the beam in the Section 3AA competition. Dahlstrom finished ninth on the beam and eighth in the all-around. Photo by John Molene