The Raider gymnasts travelled to Mahtomedi on Wednesday, December 14 for a tough match up against the Zephyrs. Mahtomedi has had the Raiders number for quite some time, something Hastings had hoped to change with the road trip.

The energy in the room was great for all of the performances with the Raiders supporting their teammates. Unfortunately, Hastings had some athletes only able to participate in one or two of the four events due to injury, limiting the opportunities for Hastings to win the all-around portion of the meet.

Hastings fell 122.375 to 134.150 in the team scores. Individually, Senior Ava Mamer placed third on beam and third overall for the meet with an all-around score of 32.175.

“Going into the meet, the girls felt good about having the first meet out of the way and it also gives them a good starting point going forward,” said head coach Jeanne Kasel. “We are still working on building up our roster on JV events. Some of the girls are still working on routines for beam and floor and bar skills to have a full routine. Overall, I think the girls are feeling pretty good about the season and building up their skills on each event as we progress through the season. Each of them has their personal goals and we have team goals as well that we try to keep in our sights as we progress through the season.”

“Our team is a bit smaller than the past couple years, but it is also perfect in size,” added Kasel. “As in any sport, from week to week you will have girls nursing small aches and pains that may cause them to have to eliminate an event one week and then there is the good old-fashioned winter flu to deal with as well. Each week can be a juggling act putting our competition roster together. Our sport is one that evolves throughout the season as the girls' progress and develop new skills.”

The confidence of the girls on the various apparatus seemed to be strong at Mahtomedi, so it will be interesting to see that grow as they progress through the season.

The next chance to catch the Raider gymnasts in action is at the Hastings Armory on Thursday, December 22. Then, at South St. Paul on January 11, both meets start at 6 p.m.

Ava Mamer earned third place on beam with this performance against Mahtomedi. Photo by Bruce Karnick