Gymnasts Fare Well At Bigger Meets

Eastern Montana Gymnastics attended both the Blast in the Badlands meet in Watford City, N.D., on Feb. 11-12, and the Twisted Moose meet in Minneapolis, Minn., on Feb. 19. Following the year’s trends, EMG had some top placings in both individual and team placings.

In Watford City, which was attended by 22 team athletes, EMG had two top overall allaround placings. In bronze, Ila Lehner had the high score, and in silver, Azzy Toavs placed first overall. Lehner also set a new meet record by scoring a 9.925 on the balance beam. She is now tied for 11th out of all bronze gymnasts in the United States with that score. Her all-around score of 38.475 was also a new EMG record. Lehner’s overall placings at Watford City were first on balance beam, first on bars, first all-around and tied for third on floor, out of all 40 gymnasts.

Other notable overall placings in the bronze level were Mallory Meissner (fourth on balance beam and ninth on floor and all-around), Allie Olson (tied for sixth on floor and tied for seventh on balance beam), Chassie Sikveland (tied for seventh on balance beam) and Paislee Hanson (tied for 10th on floor).

The EMG silver team had a very successful meet in Watford City, and brought home the second-place trophy, which is a feat for only five gymnasts competing against teams with many more gymnasts (top three scores from each even count towards the team score). Along with her first place overall all-around score, Toavs was also tied for sixth on vault, first on balance beam and tied for first on floor, out of 37 silver gymnasts. Jud Rehbein continued her strong 2023 season and was sixth on bars, third on balance beam and tied for fifth all-around overall. Peyton Cool was fifth on vault, tied for third on bars and tied for ninth in the allaround overall, while Brooklynn Boren was tied for fifth on floor.

While many EMG gold team members didn’t have their best meet, they still managed to secure second place as a team and bring home plenty of awards. Justine Massar had a great meet and placed fourth all-around, third on balance beam, tied for fourth on vault, 10th on bars and tied for fifth on floor, out of all 40 gold gymnasts in Watford City. Lina Smith was first on balance beam, tied for fourth on bars and fifth all-around, while Ella Beery was third overall for her floor routine. Placing third on vault, ninth on bars and eighth all-around was Kendra Linder, and Emma Hove placed eighth on balance beam. Aubrey Ziegler was tied for fourth overall on balance beam, as well as tied for seventh on vault and 10th on floor. Rounding out the top placings overall for gold were Ali Gibbs and Aspen Boje, who were tied for ninth on balance beam.

Scores and Age Group Placings (8-9 per age group) for Watford City (Vault, Bars, Balance Beam, Floor, All-Around): Bronze

Ila Lehner (Circle) — 9.275 (second), 9.7 (first), 9.925 (first), 9.575 (first), 38.475 (first) Mallory Meissner (Circle) — 9.05 (fourth), 9.5 (second), 9.725 (second), 9.35 (second), 37.625 (second) Chassie Sikveland (Circle) — 8.775 (ninth), 9.175 (fourth tie), 9.65 (second), 8.975 (third), 36.625 (fourth) Allie Olson (Circle) — 9.3 (second), 8.025 (sixth), 9.65 (third), 9.5 (second), 36.475 (fifth) Paislee Hanson (Circle) — 8.8 (seventh), 8.95 (sixth), 9.275 (fourth), 9.325 (third), 36.4 (fourth) Cora Hove (Circle) — 8.825 (sixth), 9.15 (fourth), 9.2 (sixth), 9.05 (seventh), 36.225 (fifth) Emersyn Knuth (Circle) — 8.6 (ninth), 8.925 (seventh), 9.275 (fifth), 9.125 (fifth), 35.925 (sixth tie) Silver

Azzy Toavs (Wolf Point) — 9.2 (first), 8.9 (third), 9.5 (first), 9.425 (first), 37.025 (first) Jud Rehbein (Richey) — 9.05 (second tie), 9.175 (second), 9.3 (first), 9.15 (third), 36.675 (first) Peyton Cool (Glendive) — 9.225 (second), 9.25 (first), 8.725 (third), 8.9 (third), 36.1 (first tie) Brooklynn Boren (Glendive) — 9.0 (fifth tie), 8.675 (fifth), 8.1 (sixth), 9.2 (first tie), 34.975 (fourth tie) Macy Rau (Glendive) — 9.075 (fifth), 8.225 (seventh), 8.375 (seventh), 9.075 (third tie), 34.75 (sixth) Gold

Justine Massar (Circle) — 9.175 (second), 8.675 (third), 9.375 (second), 9.25 (second tie), 36.475 (second) Lina Smith (Richey) — 8.95 (first), 9.0 (first), 9.575 (first), 8.45 (third), 35.975 (first) Kendra Linder (Glendive) — 9.275 (first), 8.75 (second), 8.775 (third), 8.85 (fourth), 35.65 (first) Aubrey Ziegler (Glendive) — 9.125 (third), 8.05 (seventh), 9.125 (third), 9.15 (fourth), 35.45 (third) Aspen Boje (Glendive) — 8.8 (fifth), 8.425 (fifth), 8.95 (first tie), 9.125 (first tie), 35.3 (second) Ali Gibbs (Circle) — 8.675 (sixth), 8.525 (fourth), 8.95 (first tie), 9.125 (first tie), 35.275 (third) Ella Beery (Circle) — 9.05 (fourth), 8.15 (sixth), 8.7 (sixth), 9.3 (first), 35.2 (fourth) Ava Hove (Circle) — 8.95 (fifth), 8.6 (fourth), 8.45 (seventh), 9.05 (sixth), 35.05 (sixth) Emma Hove (Circle) — 8.875 (sixth), 7.9 (eighth), 9.0 (fourth), 8.7 (eighth), 34.475 (eighth) Eleven gymnasts from EMG’s silver and gold teams traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., where they found success. Lina Smith was tied for third on balance beam overall, out of over 250 gold gymnasts.

Scores for Minneapolis (Vault, Bars, Balance Beam, Floor, All-Around): Silver (out of 18)

Rehbein — 9.1 (seventh), 8.9 (ninth), 9.325 (fourth tie), 8.825 (eighth), 36.15 (fifth) Toavs — 8.775 (12th), 7.725 (18th), 9.475 (first), 9.2 (third), 35.175 (11th tie) Boren — 8.05 (18th), 8.275 (14th), 8.475 (18th), 8.6 (13th Tie), 33.4 (18th) Gold (out of 16-27 per age group) Smith — 8.75 (sixth tie), 9.35 (fourth tie), 9.55 (first), 8.8 (fourth tie), 36.45 (third) Gibbs — 8.7 (11th), 9.35 (seventh tie), 9.225 (third), 8.7 (14th), 35.975 (fifth) Linder — 8.75 (ninth), 9.1 (10th tie), 9.2 (fourth), 8.825 (ninth), 35.875 (sixth) Boje — 8.5 (16th), 9.275 (ninth), 8.75 (10th), 8.725 (13th), 35.25 (13th) Ava Hove — 8.45 (18th Tie), 8.65 (19th), 9.2 (fifth), 8.85 (ninth), 35.15 (14th) Ella Beery — 8.5 (16th), 9.25 (seventh tie), 8.375 (24th), 8.925 (seventh), 35.05 (15th) Emma Hove — 8.425 (21st), 8.5 (21st), 9.075 (8th), 8.55 (19th), 34.55 (18th) Ziegler — 8.3 (23rd tie), 8.45 (22nd), 8.975 (12th tie), 8.525 (20th), 34.25 (20th) EMG’s next meet will be in Minot, N.D., on March 4-5 and the state meet will be in Helena on March 25-26.