Huskies, Cougars tie for 1st in Lakeville

The Lakeville Invite came down to the wire for Owatonna and Lakeville South gymnastics last week, as both teams tied for first place with 146.250 points.

Both powerhouse programs duked it out after the Cougars edged Owatonna 146.250-145.600 in Farmington the week prior.

“You know, this is going to be our last time seeing South before sections. Any time you compete against the best-ranked team in the state, you want to go and have a good meet. To go and throw a season-high team score, we were pretty happy with that,” said Owatonna head coach Evan Moe.

The Huskies’ big day started on the vault where the team put up its best event score of the day with 37.600 points.

Owatonna all-around athlete Halle Theis led the way for the squad with a 9.500-point routine, closely followed by Isabel Miller’s 9.400, and a pair of 9.350 routines by Jozie Johnson and Johanna Spielman.

After lighting up the vault, Owatonna switched its focus to the uneven bars.

According to Moe, the bars made the difference for his team in Farmington, and the event has recently been a point of emphasis for the Huskies.

While the bars were still the Huskies’ lowest-scoring event of the meet, the team showed major improvements in just a week’s time.

The Huskies put up 35.100 points on the bars and were led by two nine-plus point performances.

Delia Neumann and Emma Johnson were the big scorers for the Huskies with the former scoring a 9.200 and the latter a 9.050.

Owatonna carried its momentum from a solid showing on the bars into the balance beam event next with 36.500 team points.

Once again, all qualifying Huskies put up nine-plus points, this time led by Averie Roush’s 9.350 routine.

According to Moe, the Huskies knew they were in contention for the win heading into the final event: floor exercise.

With the top spot on the line, Owatonna put up 37.050 points to secure a share of first place behind Miller’s 9.450-point routine.

However, without the proper edge in criteria, Owatonna was not able to break the tie with Lakeville South to take sole possession of first place.

While a tie might have been unappetizing for fans of either side, it did create a special moment between high-level competitors on the podium.

After the scores were finalized, members of both Owatonna and Lakeville South gymnastics teams held hands and raised their arms in celebration of winning together.

“There’s a lot of mutual respect between our programs. I’m extremely proud of them for being able to see the bigger picture. I mean, you’re out there making friendships and building relationships with other athletes. It’s great to see them recognize what really matters,” said Moe.

Theis served as Owatonna’s all-around athlete and scored 36 points across the four events to take 14^th place.

Owatonna’s next meet will be at home against Northfield on Friday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m.