Feb. 17—ST. PAUL — For the Willmar gymnastics team, the hard part has been accomplished. Friday is a day to enjoy the competition as one of the state's top Class A teams.
Making the team championships is the icing on the cake, Cardinals head coach Torrie Heitzman said.
And Saturday's individual championships also should be a fun opportunity for four Willmar gymnasts.
"That's the milk to cleanse your palate after the cake," Heitzman said.
Willmar competes in the state team tournament at 6 p.m. Friday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. The individual state Class A championships are 6 p.m. Saturday. Willmar's Carlee Brown, Kylie Carlson, Brynnlee Carroll and Ali Slagter compete. So do New London-Spicer's Kylie Harrier, Kennedy Goracke and Delany Barber, as do Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Area's Carly Tolifson, Jada O'Leary and Addison Kasella and Litchfield's Jailyn Mickelson.
Willmar is headed to the team tournament after winning the
with a season-best 136.3. That edged BKMS' 135.825. BKMS was defending section champion.
Willmar is ranked 18th in Class A by the Minnesota State Gymnastics Coaches' Association. That makes the Cardinals' decided long-shots for a top-three finish. The team favorites are No. 1 Detroit Lakes, No. 3 Mankato East, No. 4 Becker and No. 5 Watertown-Mayer/Westonka, with No. 6 Worthington and No. 8 Breck close behind.
"We're excited to be back there," Heitzmann said. "I would say that we'll stick to our 80 percent goal. If we reach that — and we haven't reached 80 percent yet — that'll help us end the season on a high note."
Willmar's 80 percent philosophy is that four of the five gymnasts on each event need to stick their routines. Four out of five is 80 percent. It takes some mental pressure off the young Cardinals, who have two seniors: Brown and Mia Koosman. Brown's been to state as an individual. Koosman has watched it numerous times. They'll be counted upon to keep the rest of the team from being too anxious.
The Cards include ninth-graders Carlson, Carroll, Camila Oehlers, eighth-graders Slagter, Hadley DeBoer and Phoebe Huselid and seventh-grader Maggie Strand. The Cardinals are coached by Heitzman, her husband Michael Heitzman, Emily Quiltney and Afton Windsperger-Dick. The team manager is Harper Wilson.
Torrie Heitzman said that having a coaching staff whose backgrounds are all in education is a huge plus for a program that is trying to build its numbers. She also says that the community support has been excellent. Willmar has a youth program through its parks and recreation department starting with pre-schoolers. There also is a youth gymnastics program in town that should help the Cardinals increase participation numbers after a previous program closed during the pandemic in 2021.
"I think we've had a lot of support from the community," Torrie Heitzman said.
The team will take a tour of the community on Thursday on its way to state. The Cardinals will do a walk-through of Kennedy Elementary school at 9:15 a.m., then do Roosevelt Elementary at 9:40, followed by the Willmar Middle School at 10 a.m. They'll then go to Lakeland Elementary at 10:30 a.m. At 1 p.m., there will be a send-off at the high school commons. There's a banquet Thursday night in St. Paul.