The Class 1A team competition at the gymnastics state tournament Friday came down to the final rotation.
No. 1-ranked Big Lake held a slight lead on Detroit Lakes. To most observers, it looked dicey for the Hornets.
Detroit Lakes was finishing up in the floor exercise, a discipline known for producing high scores. Big Lake was ending its meet on the balance beam, an apparatus that has sunk many a strong team. Often, just staying on the balance beam is considered a moral victory.
Not for Big Lake. The Hornets embraced it and put up an impressive team score of 37.05, enough to give them a runaway victory with a team score of 147.65, a full point and a half ahead of Detroit Lakes, which finished with a 146.15.
"Beam has been one of our strongest events all season," said coach Lanny Goldsmith. "We've pushed beam since they were little. We don't do the biggest skills on beam, but we try to do really clean skills."
The pressure was on the Hornets at that point. After all, it was the state meet. But sophomore Allie Liu said they embraced that pressure. "We knew it was down to the last couple tenths, but we just came out and said, 'Have fun.' Instead of getting under that pressure, we just smiled through it and we just hit."
Big Lake won the Class 1A title in 2020. That time, Goldsmith said, it was a bit of a surprise. This time, the Hornets expected to win.
"Our kids live for this kind of meet, where we're expected to do well," he said. "We feed off these kinds of meets, where the pressure is on. We love this kind of atmosphere."
