Lind takes 4th in all-around at state

• Alex Lind

(John M. Steiner / The Sun) Jamestown’s Alex Lind competes in the vault this weekend at the state gymnastics meet in Valley City. Lind was named senior athlete of the year.

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Alex Lind put the finishing touches on a standout career on the final day of the state gymnastics meet on Saturday.

On individual day, Lind finished fourth in the all-around with a 37.767. The senior, who was the Gatorade senior athlete of the year, finished third on bars (9.65), fourth in the floor (9.583), sixth on beam (9.2) and 11th on the vault (9.333).

“She had a great week; she went out scoring higher than she did on (Friday),” longtime Jamestown coach Dave Tews said. “The last two days, I think she was a little nervous. The last week of your senior year, you’re thinking every time that it’s my last Monday practice, last Tuesday practice, last full workout on this, last opportunity to compete with the team; she’s no different than anyone else. She was quiet and reserved on some things.”

Fresh off winning a team state title, Dickinson had champions in two events. Acacia Fossum won her third consecutive all-around title (38.333), while Mikaela Kessel won the floor exercise with a 9.767.

Fargo’s Faith Marty shined, winning titles in the balance beam (9.717) and the vault (9.567). Century’s Jessica Gabriel won the bars competition with a 9.733.

Next to Lind, the higest placer for the Jays was Erin Hillerud, who took 15th in the vault with a 9.15. She was 24th in the all-around (33.767) and 25th on the floor (8.783).

Abbie Conlon took 20th on bars (8.517) and 27th on beam (8.333), and Kaiann Arellano was 21st on the beam (8.633) and 27th on bars (8.133). Jenna Stillwell used a 9.033 on the vault to propel herself to 28th place in the all-around (32.383). Jayden Diemert finished 28th on bars with an 8.117 and Madison Mandan rounded out top 30 finishers with 29th on the floor (8.667).

Tews said replacing Lind could be a tall task.

“She never really had a down event all the way through,” Tews said. “It’s gonna be hard to think about the impact of not having her. Her leaving is gonna leave a bigger hole than anyone we’ve had before. You do the math, she’s been our highest scoring kid for years. That’s in the facts.”

For a team that had to replace three key seniors, Tews said the Blue Jays have come a long way.

“Overall, we were pretty pleased,” Tews said. “The kids realized (they) can compete at this level, and that’s the hardest thing. We (won’t be able to) rely on one person or two to carry us. We’ve got to go back to the old days where we had seven or eight kids and you never knew who was gonna score. The kids got to realize that safety blanket of the 37-point all-arounder isn’t there. Who’s gonna be the next one to step up and be consistent?”

State gymnastics meet

at Valley City

Top 10 individuals

All-around: 1, Acacia Fossum, Dickinson, 38.33. 2T, Kaylee Keller, Bismarck; Jessica Gabriel, Century, 38.050. 4, Alex Lind, Jamestown, 37.767. 5, Faith Marty, Fargo, 37.317. 6T, Chantal Urlacher, Dickinson; Keana Kudrna, Dickinson, 37.100. 8, Kaitlin Kelley, Bismarck, 37.017. 9, Mikaela Kessel, Dickinson, 36.817. 10, Kiara Bock, Fargo Davies, 36.650.

Floor: 1, Kessel, D, 9.767. 2T, Gabriel, C; Fossum, D, 9.650. 4, Alex Lind, J, 9.583. 5, Faith Marty, F, 9.567. 6, Keana Kudrna, D, 9.450. 7, Keller, B, 9.417. 8T, Madison Reiter, M; Bock, FD, 9.367. 10, Madie Uglem, F, 9.3.

Beam: 1, Marty, F, 9.717. 2, Fossum, D, 9.617. 3, Keller, B, 9.583. 4, Kelley, B, 9.467. 5, Gabriel, C, 9.3. 6T, Lind, J; Urlacher, D, 9.2. 8, Whitney Perrin, C, 9.183. 9, Sophia Thompson, C, 9.167. 10, Hannah Werchau, M, 9.150.

Bars: 1, Gabriel, C, 9.733. 2, Keller, B, 9.717. 3, Lind, J, 9.650. 4, Fossum, D, 9.583. 5, Kudrna, D, 9.433. 6, Urlacher, D, 9.383. 7, Rebekah Fisher, Valley City, 9.150. 8, Bock, FD, 9.083. 9, Kelley, B, 8.950. 10, Werchau, M, 8.9.

Vault: 1, Marty, F, 9.567. 2, Carroll, F, 9.5. 3T, Kelley, B; Fossum, D, 9.483. 5, Kudrna, D; Perrin, C, 9.467. 7, Mckenzie Kostelecky, D, 9.433. 8, Werchau, M, 9.4. 9T, Urlacher, D; Gabriel, C, 9.367.

Sun sportswriter Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, gymnastics, jays