Beginning her eighth year as head coach of the Park gymnastics team, coach Ali Flaata is optimistic for the 2022-23 girls’ gymnastics season, and for good reason. The Wolfpack welcome back state meet qualifiers Rainna Jameson and Ashley Lentz, several other talented veterans such as Emily Dahlstrom and Natalya Rugel, as well as a host of eager newcomers.

Just eight of the 24 members on the team are returning, but among those eight are several top performers.

Sophomore Jameson qualified for state on the uneven parallel bars last season as a ninth grader. She finished 30th on the bars at state with a score of 8.725.

A three-sport athlete, Jameson hasn’t had the time some of the other have had to boost their routines.

“I really want to go to state again,” said Jameson. “But I want to improve my skills from last year and try to maybe place as well. I really want to connect all of my skills and them I’m adding a handstand on the low bar and then a pirouette and then I really want to complete my giants as well.”

“She is so naturally talented we just have to perfect her skills because she gets a little wild sometimes,” said Flaata on Jameson. “She’s full of talent so we’ve just got to tap into that.”

Park senior Lentz has qualified for the state meet on the vault her first three seasons on the team and is primed for another run. “I want to upgrade my vault to hopefully a layout or perfect my pike synch,” said Lentz.” I competed a pike synch last year and attempted some layouts this summer.”

Strong all-arounders Dahlstrom and Rugel are also returning. “Most of them have all gotten some new skills over the summer and in the off season so we should be adding to our routines this year,” said Flaata. “And then we have another gymnast that came from perpetual motion, was level eight, her name is Ashley Davis. And she’ll probably be a varsity all-arounder for us.” Flaata expects the Wolfpack’s strongest events to be vault and floor. “We have a lot of girls who are flipping some vaults, which helps our scores, and we have a lot more twisters on floor than we have in the past,” said Flaata. Park finished fourth in the Section 3AA meet last season with a score of 136.075.

Jameson was sixth in the all-around and Dahlstrom eighth.

Lentz was second in the vault at sections with a score of 9.350, Rugel seventh with an 8.975 and Jameson ninth with an 8.875. Dahlstrom finished seventh on the floor exercise with a score of 9.225 at sections and placed ninth on the balance beam with an 8.825.

Graduated senior Leah Smith also made it to state last season on the bars, finished third in the section meet on the bars with a score of 8.6. Jameson was sixth on the bars in the section meet with a score of 8.6.

Park has the potential to qualify several individuals to state and perhaps the team as well, Flaata said.

“I think our team is going to go really far this year,” said Dahlstrom who will be aiming at making state in either the allaround or floor. “We have newer girls, so I think that it’s going to be a different experience. And there’s a lot of us so we’re going to be fighting for spots to compete, but I think it’s going to be rewarding because we have a lot of talent and if we work hard at practice then I think we’ll be very successful.”

“I think that if everyone puts in enough effort that we’re all going to have a really good all-around score with all of our really good talent that we have this year, I think we could be really good,” said Jameson.

First meet for the Park gymnasts is an eight-team invitational at White Bear Lake on Saturday, Dec. 3. Park hosts Woodbury in its first home meet on Friday, Dec. 15, starting at 6 p.m.

Park senior Ashley Lentz will seek to vault her way to state again. Photo by John Molene