The gymnasts from Richfield High School recorded a convincing win over Henry Sibley on Thursday night.
Spartans captains Kelsey Metz and Sara Tseng placed first and second, respectively, in the all-around competition. Henry Sibley junior captain Becca Stephenson placed third overall behind Tseng and Metz.
Stephenson was the top Warriors scorer in three of her team's four rotations but her efforts could not hold up against the consistency of the Spartans' top gymnasts.
Metz recorded the highest scores in every event for either team to finish the meet with 33.025 points overall.
Despite an abundance of skillful gymnastics in the meet both teams found difficulty with a particular event.
“We really struggled on the beam tonight. It seemed like everyone did,” Metz said before the final rotation. “I think we were strong on the floor and vault tonight. That was important because we had to come back from [our struggles] on the beam.”
Henry Sibley lauded the efforts of their Richfield counterparts but realized they still have some work to do in order to compete every week.
“Today was not our best meet,” Stephenson said after results were announced. “We all need to put in more effort in practice and work harder.”
Warriors head coach Elizabeth Hammar is still seeking her first win of the season but she was encouraged by her young team's performance.
“I feel good after tonight,” Hammar said after the meet. “It was a pretty even meet which helps the girls stay focused.”
“We could have had better beam sets,” Hammar agreed. “Besides some problems there I think they were some of our cleanest sets. In that regard it was probably one of our strongest rotations.”
Although the Warriors have gotten off to a slow start this season Hammar remains optimistic. She has no seniors on her team and she boasts four seventh graders on the junior varsity roster.
Metz is also very encouraged by the future prospects in the Richfield system.
"We have some very talented middle schoolers coming up," she said. "We only have four or five returning gymnasts this year. Our middle schoolers are showing a lot of potential."
Richfield next competes in the MLK Invitational at Simley High School on Monday, Jan. 17. The competition begins at 10 a.m.
