Dickinson gymnastics captures seventh-straight state championship
Feb. 26—The Dickinson Midgets gymnastics team keeps on winning.
And winning.
And winning.
And......you get the point.
In the last six years, Dickinson has taken home the team state championship in gymnastics, tying Fargo South in the process for the most team titles in NDHSAA history by a single school with 15.
History was made Friday night at Dickinson High School where the 2022 NDHSAA state gymnastics meet was held. The Midgets were able to compete on their home floor in front of a packed house to showcase their talents.
As they have all season, Dickinson emerged as champions, capturing their seventh-straight state team championship. They narrowly edged out Jamestown in second place, 148.65-146.65.
The 16th state team championship set a new NDHSAA record for most by a single team. They also tied Fargo South for the longest streak of consecutive titles.
In short, no one has been better at gymnastics in North Dakota than the Dickinson Midgets.
"It's awesome," Dickinson head coach Casey Berry said about being a part of the program. "The girls work really hard. There's that foundation that's already laid out that makes everything fun and easy."
Dickinson used eight different gymnasts for the team competition, with four competing in all four events. Junior Amy Fridley, sophomore Addison Fitterer, and seventh-graders Anna and Elizabeth Karsky all took part in four events. Seventh-grader Reygan Strommen competed in three, eighth-grader Brooklyn Wariner and Anna Clifton were in two, and eighth-grader Aspen Roadarmel was in one.
The eight teams rotated through the events throughout the evening and were allowed to send six different gymnasts to each event.
A true team effort was needed for the Midgets to narrowly get past Jamestown, who were only three points behind them at the WDA Championships on Feb. 18, where Dickinson emerged victorious as well.
Normally dominant in every event, the Midgets had a little trouble on the balance beam. None of their participants stayed on the beam for the entirety of their routine, but managed to maintain their lead.
"That was kind of a bummer because we could've been better but it was good," Berry said.
Elizabeth Karsky had the highest all around score for Dickinson, posting a 37.783. Fridley was right behind her at 37.667. Those were also the two highest scores in the entire field.
Their most dominant event for the Midgets had to be the uneven bars, with five of their six participants achieving a score above 9.000. No one else had more than two.
The highest score of the night for Dickinson came on Elizabeth Karsky's vault performance where she scored a 9.650.
The final day of the meet will take place on Saturday with the individual competition. It should be another big day for the Midgets based on the results from Friday.
Fridley will be looking to defend her state titles on the vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise, as well as the all around competition.
"For individual day the girls can put in all of their upgrades and high-level stuff whereas on team day you take some of it out," Berry said. "Hopefully we can hit some beam routines. I'm hoping some of our little girls can throw one of her big vaults and surprise herself. That's most of it, good beam routines and big vaults."
TEAM SCORES
1st — Dickinson, 148.65; 2nd — Jamestown, 146.65; 3rd — Valley City, 145.283; 4th — Bismarck Century, 137.033; 5th — Bismarck Legacy, 135.333; 6th — Grand Forks, 134.100; 7th — Mandan, 132.983; 8th — Wahpeton, 132.333
