11 February 2013

Gymnastics: Tigers 3rd in high-powered Missota

Kiana Lord 2nd in floor; 4th in all-around (photo by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers turned in their best performance of the year on the balance beam and recorded the second best team score of the night in floor exercise to finish third overall in a high-powered field at the Missota Conference Championships held last Friday night in Red Wing.

New Prague the second ranked Class A team in Minnesota defeated Northfield, the top-ranked team in Class AA, 145-60-143-60 for top honors in the meet.

The 17th ranked Tigers put up a season-high 138.8 points, followed by Chaska/Chanhassen 135.95 and host Red Wing 125.575.

"The girls had an amazing night," Tiger coach Lynn Bauman said. "We had more ups than downs for the first time this season.

"We had our best score of the year on beam. All we need to do is clean up our bar routines this week and we should score 140 in the sections. We could be in the top three there."

Kiana Lord led the Farmington effort at the conference meet with three top 10 finishes in individual events. The talented senior placed second in floor exercise; fourth on the uneven bars and eighth in vaulting. Lord's versatile performance produced a fourth place finish in the all-around standings.

Tahra Eckert turned in a pair of top ten finishes, taking sixth in vault and eighth in all-around. Kathryn Beckett ranked sixth in floor exercise and Kylie Wharton placed seventh on the balance beam.

This Friday the girls travel to Eagan for the Section 3AA Championships where they placed third a year ago..