Blue Jay gymnasts off to fast start

Despite a lineup with a handful of new faces, the score the JHS gymnastics team opened the season with Thursday was very familiar to last year.

The Blue Jays posted a sparkling 138.350 in easily winning a dual with Aberdeen Thursday, getting a banner night from senior standout Alex Lind.

“Overall the kids surprised me again and put up a really good score,” coach Dave Tews said. “I’m happy to say I’m pleasantly surprised.”

The score would indicate the Blue Jays are capable of challenging for the No. 3 spot in the state behind Minot and Dickinson.

“I think right now it puts us in the same spot we’ve been in the last few years and we have the potential to climb up,” Tews said. “I think it’s going to be a tougher road this year because we have so many young kids, but if we start at 138 and improve a little bit, that’s better than starting at 132 and struggling to climb up.”

Lind hung a 37.45 all-around score on the board and won everything but floor.

“Alex came out of the gate with one of the highest scores of her career,” Tews said.

Lind led 1-2 JHS finishes on the beam and bars.

Erin Hillerud’s 8.35 trailed only Lind (9.3) on bars. Hillerud’s 33.750 was also third overall.

Lind (9.5) and Jenna Stilwell (9.0) gave the Blue Jays two scores of nine or better on beam. Kaiann Arellano scored an 8.9 to give JHS the top three beam performances.

“This was one of those meets where we had some big scores, then we had a few kickers below which really seemed to help,” Tews said.

That was the case on floor as Madison Mandan, Glynna Godfrey and Hannah Schiele were all over eight.

The Blue Jays are back on the road next week, facing Dickinson on Dec. 7.

Team results

1, Jamestown 138.350; 2, Aberdeen 132.750; 3, Warner 32.500.

Individual statistics

(Top 3 and JHS results)

All around

1, Alex Lind, JHS, 37.450; 2, Alexis Clark, Aberdeen, 34.350; 3, Erin Hillerud, JHS, 33.750.

Other JHS results

7, Abbie Conlon, 31.250; 8, Jayden Diemert, 30.550; 9, Glynna Godfrey, 28.500.

Floor

1, Clark, 9.3; 2, Lind, 9.250; 3, Hillerud, 8.8

Other JHS results

8, Madison Mandan, 8.25; 9T, Godfrey, 8.050; 9T, Godfrey, 8.050; 11, Hannah Schiele, 8.050; 15, Conlon, 7.3; 15, Diemert, 6.9.

Beam

1, Lind, JHS, 9.5; 2, Jenna Stilwell, 9.0; 3, Kaiann Arellano, JHS, 8.9.

Other JHS results

4, Hillerud, 8.0; 5, Conlon, 7.95; 10, Diemert, 7.5; 14, Godfrey, 5.8.

Vault

1, Lind, JHS, 9.4; 2, Taylor Schweitzer, Aberdeen, 9.05; 3, Clark, Aberdeen, 9.0.

Other JHS results

4T, Hillerud, 8.6; 6, Stilwell, 8.5; 9T, Arellano, 8.4; 13T, Godfrey, 8.3; 14, Diemert, 8.2; 15, Conlon, 8.15.

Bars

1, Lind, JHS, 9.3; 2, Hillerud, JHS, 8.350; 3, Clark, Aberdeen, 8.3.

Other JHS results

5, Arellano, 8.1; 8, Diemert, 7.950; 11, Conlon, 7.85; 11T, Stilwell, 7.85; 15, Godfrey, 6.35.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jays, gymnastics