Girls get first win at state: Gymnastics team places fourth

After yet another heart-breaking loss to open the state tournament, the Jamestown girls’ hockey team finally got over the hump on Friday night.

Amber Schaack scored two goals and Carissa Finck made 27 saves to lift the Blue Jays to a 4-2 win over Bismarck — Jamestown’s first-ever victory at the girls’ state hockey tournament.

“It’s really something,” said JHS coach Brad Schaack. “I couldn’t be more proud of these girls. … Now that they have that first state-tournament win out of the way, we’re going to try and bring home the consolation.”

Jamestown will meet up with Minot today, again, at the Ralph Engelstad Olympic Arena.

“That seems to be our home here,” said Brad Schaack of playing on the Olympic-sized sheet. “That’s fine with us. I don’t know what it is, but we seem to play well on it.”

Amber Schaack got both goals in the first period to help Jamestown take a 2-1 lead at the first intermission, which was exactly the type of start Brad Schaack had envisioned if the Blue Jays were going to get the monkey off their backs.

“We’re like a completely different team when we get that first goal,” he said.

Amber Schaack didn’t take long to give Jamestown the early lead, scoring less than two minutes into the contest.

Her second score came less than seven minutes later to break a 1-all tie.

“She was zoned-in today,” said Brad Schaack. “She gave us those first two goals and then we got kind of a fluky goal, but for once the hockey Gods were on our side.”

Larissa Wiest scored for the Blue Jays just two seconds after a power play expired and Mataya Olson supplied the dagger six minutes later. Olson also assisted on Wiest’s goal to give her two points in the game.

Jamestown (12-12-1) has lost to Minot twice this season, so the Blue Jays will be looking to avoid the sweep.

“We’re going to really have to contain that first line,” Brad Schaack said. “We need to keep them to the outside and we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that the last two games.”

Jamestown 4, Bismarck 2

Jamestown 2 2 0 — 4

Bismarck 1 1 0 — 2

Scoring

First period

1, JHS, Amber Schaack (unassisted), 1:31; 2, BHS, Haleigh Springan (unassisted), 6:50; 3, JHS, Schaack (unassisted), 8:03.

Second period

4, JHS, Larissa Wiest (Olson), 7:15; 5, BHS, Bri Flynn (unassisted), 7:43; 6, JHS, Olson (Kelsey Neumann), 13:12.

Third period

No scoring

Penalties: Jamestown 3 for 6 minutes; Bismarck 7 for 14 minutes.

Goalie saves: Jamestown, Carissa Finck 11-6-10—27; Bismarck, Erin Clayburgh 6-5-2—13.

Records: Jamestown 12-12-1; Bismarck 15-10-0.

Gymnastics

It didn’t count for anything individually, but Alex Lind proved to be the best gymnast in the house Friday night in Dickinson.

The JHS junior’s 37.667 all-around score was the top mark in the team portion of the state meet, beating the likes of defending state champion Acacia Fossum of Dickinson, Bismarck’s Mackenzie Keidel and everybody else for that matter.

“Alex had a great day,” JHS coach Dave Tews said. “If it’s (Saturday), she’s the state all-around champion. If nothing else she has bragging rights (for Friday).”

Team-wise, the Blue Jays finished fourth, which is where they were seeded with a score of 142.617. Minot won its fourth straight title, nipping the host Midgets, 146.767 to 146.300.

Bismarck held off the Blue Jays for third with 144.350.

“It was back and forth all meet. We’d be second, then drop to third or fourth and then jump up again. It’s always fun to be in the mix,” Tews said. “Was it our best night? Probably not, but overall I was pretty pleased with how the girls performed.”

Carly Nelson, a senior, was the top performer for the Jays after Lind. Nelson was seventh on floor with a career best of 9.433. Mercedes Westereng was ninth.

Lind didn’t finish lower than ninth in anything and was second on beam to Fargo North’s Kiara Bock. Nelson added a ninth on beam.

“Carly had a really nice day especially on floor and beam,” Tews said.

Individual results did not count for anything other than towards the team score. The individual portion is today, beginning at noon.

State gymnastics meet

At Dickinson High School

Team Competition

Team results

1, Minot High 146.767. 2, Dickinson High 146.300. 3, Bismarck High 144.350. 4, Jamestown 142.617. 5, Bismarck Century 140.100. 6, Fargo Davies 134.650. 7, Valley City 131.900. 8, Wahpeton 131.050.

Team competition individual results

(Top 10)

All-around: 1, Alex Lind, JHS, 37.667. 2, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 37.333. 3, Mackenzie Keidel, BHS, 37.300. 4, Misha Taylor, MHS, 37.200. 5, Jessica Gabriel, BC, 37.083. 6, Jennifer Albers, BC, 36.600. 7, Hannah Werchau, MHS, 36.567. 8, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 36.517. 9 (tie), Madison Reiter, MHS; Kiara Bock, FD, 36.300.

Beam: 1, Kiara Bock, FD, 9.567. 2, Alex Lind, JHS, 9.383. 3, Jenna Mueller, DHS, 9.350. 4, Katlin Kelley, BHS, 9.333. 5, Payton Ringoen, MHS, 9.217. 6, Jennifer Albers, BC, 9.200. 7, Misha Taylor, MHS, 9.117. 8, Mackenzie Keidel, BHS, 8.950. 9, Carly Nelson, JHS, 8.917. 10, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 8.883.

Floor: 1 (tie), Acacia Fossum; Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 9.767. 3, Misha Taylor, MHS, 9.683. 4, Alex Lind, JHS, 9.633. 5, Jessica Gabriel, BC, 9.583. 6, Hannah Werchau, MHS, 9.450. 7, Carly Nelson, JHS, 9.433. 8, Payton Ringoen, MHS, 9.417. 9, Mercedes Westereng, JHS, 9.367. 10, Madison Reiter, MHS, 9.333.

Bars: 1, Kaylee Keller, BHS, 9.567. 2, Jessica Gabriel, BC, 9.517. 3, Alex Lind, JHS, 9.483. 4, Mackenzie Keidel, BHS, 9.383. 5, Acacia Fossum, DHS, 9.367. 6, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 9.283. 7, Misha Taylor, MHS, 9.100. 8 (tie), Jennifer Albers, BC; Hannah Werchau, MHS, 9.050. 10, Mikaela Kessel, DHS, 8.967.

Vault: 1, Mackenzie Keidel, BHS, 9.733. 2, Jessica Gabriel, BC, 9.483. 3, Madison Reiter, MHS, 9.333. 4 (tie), Acacia Fossum, DHS; Misha Taylor, MHS, 9.300. 6, Keana Kudrna, DHS, 9.233. 7, Hannah Werchau, MHS, 9.217. 8, Shalesa Wariner, DHS, 9.183. 9, Alex Lind, JHS, 9.167. 10, Savannah Fix, MHS, 9.133.

Tags: hockey, gymnastics, sports, jays