Sometimes first place isn't good enough.
Though the Detroit Lakes gymnastics team scored 143.2 to win the Moorhead Invitational on Saturday, the Lakers weren't satisfied.
When a team is constantly comparing itself to Perham, Minn.'s three-time defending Class 1A champs, the bar is set pretty high.
"We got 143, but we wanted 147 because that was Perham's last score," said Annalise Thorsgard, who led the Lakers with a second-place finish in the all-around. "It's a decent score, but we were disappointed not to get (147)."
Thorsgard's all-around score was 36.075, just .375 behind winner Kayla Deters of Sauk Rapids. A rare slip by Thorsgard on the floor exercise caused the gap.
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"She usually gets around 9.3 or 9.4 on the floor, and today she got an 8.6," Lakers coach Matt Horner said. "But she had a great day. Other than that slip, she was great."
Thorsgard won the uneven bars (9.3), was second on the vault (9.325) and fourth on the balance beam (8.825).
Detroit Lakes' depth was on display, as Thorsgard had a lot of help. The Lakers took either first or second in every event and had four of the top five in the uneven bars. Bre Halbur won the vault (9.375) and was second on the beam (9.275).
"There are a lot of good girls on this team," Thorsgard said. "I'm a senior and I'm getting great competition from the middle schoolers. This is a good group and should be good for a few years."
The Lakers won't run into Perham until the Class 1A, Section 6, meet Feb. 16 in Detroit Lakes, but Horner said that clash is quickly approaching.
"Our score says we had a good day, but we had quite a few slips, actually," Horner said. "It's probably good to get that stuff out of the way before sections."
Moorhead's Katrina Thompson won the balance beam (9.45), while Sauk Rapids' Deters took first in the floor (9.15).
All-around: 1, Deters, SR, 36.450. 2, Thorsgard, DL, 36.075. 3, Brorby, M, 35.475. 4, Thompson, M, 35.325. 5, Einerson, DL, 34.975.
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Vault: 1, Halbur, DL, 9.375. 2, Thorsgard, DL, 9.325. 3, (tie) Walter, DL, and Brorby, M, both 9.100. 5, Paris, B, 9.050.
Uneven bars: 1, Thorsgard, DL, 9.300. 2, Deters, SR, 9.200. 3, Walter, DL, 9.075. 4. Hoppert, DL, 8.850. 5. Einerson, DL, 8.750.
Balance beam: 1, Thompson, M, 9.450. 2, Halbur, DL, 9.275. 3, Walter, DL, 8.975. 4, Thorsgard, DL, 8.825. 5, Brorby, M, 8.800.
Floor exercise: 1, Deters, SR, 9.150. 2, McCauly, DL, 8.950. 3, Brorby, M, 8.875. 4, Thompson, M, 8.825. 5, Paris, B, 8.775.
Readers can reach Forum sports writer Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548. Collins' prep sports blog can be found at www.areavoices.com
