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Photo by Grace Cheney

Junior Katelyn McDowell does a back walkover on the beam in her beam routine on Thursday, February 2. McDowell got second place on beam with a score of 9.075 which contributed to Stillwater's win against Forest Lake.

The girls gymnastics team is having a successful season this year. They have been competing all around the state and have won many meets. This team continues to amaze the spectators. 

The team is close to beating the all-time high score for the high school of 151. The score of a meet is created by taking all of the individual scores and adding up. The gymnastics team has a season-high of 146 and in the meet against Forest Lake on Feb. 2 they scored 144 and once again came out on top and won first place. 

“We’ve been doing great with our season and we’ve been undefeated for the past two months and we are hoping to go to State and place,” senior captain Anna Benson said. 

Last year, they had a team of 19. They lost nine seniors after the season ended and now have a team of only 10. Although the team may be more tight-knit, the small team could be considered a problem, but the scores would say otherwise. 

“A big weakness is the size of our team, which is hard because we fill up every single spot. But we’ve pushed through again and again,” Benson said. 

Like every good team, there are unique challenges to them. However, they do not let these challenges get to them. They have shown they are relentless and passionate about their sport so challenges like the size of the team don’t matter to them. 

“I think we are very persevering,” junior Katelyn McDowell said. “We don’t really get affected by small things from little mistakes that had happened prior to the next thing that you’re doing.”

With such a small team, the girls have grown very close to each other. Their closeness is shown by their constant support and hyping each other up. 

The constant cheering and support allows junior Zoe Chase conquer her most difficult skill Chase said. 

In order to support each other, the team has to be very positive and have a lot of energy. They are very loud and make sure their presence is known wherever they go. 

Spectators can “expect to see a lot of positive attitudes and a lot of skills” when watching the team Benson said. 

Another thing that the team excels at along with skill and positivity is knowing how to have fun. Even with the big changes from last season to this season, they never fail to make new and lasting memories for the freshmen all the way to the seniors. 

“The bus rides home are always super fun,” Benson said. “We always sing and dance and it’s a fun experience.”

One major reason they have been able to accomplish their astounding record is by “staying together as a team,” Chase said.