Fridley takes All-Around title, Nelson third at state meet

Feb. 28—Dave Tews was pretty happy on Saturday and it had nothing to do with the fact that Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich had ruled February 27, 2021, as Dave Tews Day in the City of Jamestown.

"It was a good day," the 43-year head JHS gymnastics coach and 2021 NDHSCA Gymnastics Coach of the Year said. "Overall the kids did really well, no malfunctions on equipment which I am always happy about and everything went great."

The Jamestown High School gymnastics team concluded their season with the individual portion of the 2020-21 state gymnastics meet at Jerry Meyer Arena. The Blue Jays tumbled to a third-place finish in the team competition Friday.

Dickinson won its sixth-consecutive state team title while Valley City edged out the Blue Jays for the state runner-up title.

While the Blue Jays were a smidge disappointed with the outcome on Friday, the Blue Jays were far from down and out to begin Saturday's competition.

Especially Haley Nelson.

Nelson, the 2020 defending uneven bars champion and the all-around runner-up was gunning for a first-place finish in the all-around competition after coming within 0.034 points of last year's champion Ayanna Fossum.

The junior had her work cut out for her as Dickinson's Amy Fridley and Brooklyn Deguzman were working to do a repeat of Friday's 1-2 performance with Fridley putting up a 19.483 and Deguzman an 18.75 in the first two rotations.

The Dickinson duo wasn't the only competition Nelson had to be concerned with.

Emma Hillerud continued her stellar couple of weeks, starting out on the floor and bouncing to a 9.533 performance to put her 0.133 ahead of Nelson after one. Hillerud also landed a 9.083 point vault to bring the second-go around to an end.

"Emma had an awesome weekend, holy smokes, and the other kids stepped up," Tews said.

Nelson's patient dominance served her well as she put up a 9.433 on the uneven bars and that performance shot her back up to second place — 0.65 points behind Fridley. As soon as Nelson stuck the landing she rushed over to Rachel Schiele and nearly toppled the recently sidelined senior over with a hug.

Schiele underwent a successful ACL surgery on Feb. 16, so while she was not competing, the senior was louder than ever when it came to cheering on her teammates. Schiele was named the 2021 NDHSCA Gymnastics Senior Athlete of the Year.

"I was like, 'I will be your first hug — just come to me because I can't walk that fast,'" Schiele said of the uneven bars episode with a laugh. "It's hard watching, but I love cheering these girls on. They're my family and I just love watching them do good."

Nelson could use some cheering on as she suffered a fall on the balance beam to knock down her score. Nelson scored an 8.833 on the beam, giving Valley City's Abbey Thornton and Legacy's Zoe Prince room to work. Thornton scored a 9.517 on bars while Prince was in second place with a total score of 27.967.

That was before Fridley did her stuff on the beam.

Fridley saved herself from a couple of missteps on the beam and tumbled to a 9.25 finish on what is typically her weakest event. Her performance on beam put the sophomore 0.483 points ahead of Thornton. Nelson was in the No. 4 spot after three, so it all came down to what she could do on floor, which was a lot.

Nelson landed every pass in her routine with only a couple of small hops costing her only 0.40 in deductions, tying Thornton for the No. 3 spot with a total of 37.267.

"Haley started out awesome, had that little struggle on beam but then came back on floor," Tews said. "There are tough gymnasts in that upper level and I think Haley has done well."

Fridley would go on to win her first state title after posting an impressive 9.667 on floor, bringing her total to 38.4 points. Fridley also won the state uneven bars, floor and vault titles. Prince was state runner-up with 37.45. Hillerud ended up the seventh-best gymnast in the state.

Fridley is Dickinson's third state champ in seven years. Nelson said Fridley's vault set the sophomore apart from the rest of the field and the newly crowned state champ agreed.

"When I stuck my second vault, I was like, oh yeah I got this meet," Fridley said. "I upgraded a couple of skills and my events have gotten better than they were last year. It feels really good, I've worked really hard for this.."

2020-21 State Gymnastics Meet

At Jamestown High School

All-Around competition

1. Amy Fridley, DHS, 38.4; 2. Zoe Prince, LEG, 37.45; 3. Abby Thornton, VC, 37.267; T3. Haley Nelson, JHS, 37.267; 5. Jocey Kriewald, VC, 36.883; 6. Brooklyn Deguzman, DHS, 36.75; 7. Emma Hillerud, JHS, 36.267; 8. Julia Skari, JHS, 36.183; 9. Madison Deics, LEG, 36.050; 10. Aspen Roadarmel, DHS, 35.933; 11. Karina Olson VC, 35.883; 12. Joanne Lee, LEG, 35.817; 13. Olvia Olson, VC, 35.383; 14. Teah Schulte, BC, 35.283; 15. Rylee Olson, DHS, 35.033; 16. Addison Fitterer, DHS, 34.917; 17. Grace Undem, VC, 34.717; 18. Gabbi Nelson, GF, 34.6; 19. Haley Conklin, MIN, 34.583; 20. Jericah Lockner, MAN, 34.567; 21. Lydia Stoterau, JHS, 34.55; 22. Brooklyn Wariner, DHS, 34.483; 23. Anna Clifton, DHS, 34.083; 24. Alyson Krug, BHS, 33.867; 25. Brenna Hatch, JHS, 33.833; 26. Blair Arbuckle, JHS, 33.4; 27. Alyssa Larson, LEG, 33.167; 28. Samantha Simnioniw, DHS, 33.017; 29. Kayla Lamoureux, DHS, 33.017; 30. Delani Barrett, GF, 30.483; 31. Mikah Schock, DHS, 25.817; 32. Lauren Swanson, GF, 25.5; 33. Kendal Blair, 24.9; 34. Anna Wicklow, FD, 24.467; 35. Anna Heil, LEG, 18.3; 36. Sydney Fisher, JHS, 18.050; 37. Halle Johnsrud, CEN, 18.017; 38. Halle Johnsrud, CEN, 18.017; 39. Melody Nguyen, GF, 16.983; 40. Quinn Bassingthwaitem, WHS, 16.95; 40. Maddie Wendel, VC, 16.9; 41. Anabelle Cramer, JHS, 16.75; 42. Irelyn Eli, LEG, 16.533; 43. Anika Birkelo, WHS, 16.317; 44. Alexa Evenger, LEG, 15.983; 45. Macie Stanislawski, GF, 9.067; 46. Autumn Daniels, FD, 9.033; 47. Hailee Hanson, WHS, 8.9; 48. Jess Ranisate, VC, 8.883; 49. Alexis Miller, BHS, 8.817; 50. Ykria Schnieder, DHS, 8.7; 51. Zoe Bjerke, VC, 8.027; 52. Pavyn Peterson, MIN, 8.027; 53. Taylor Thueson, BC, 7.817; 54. Ashlyn Gunzman, DHS, 7.45; 55. Abbie Skovholt, WHS, 0.00.

Individual finishes

Beam: 1. Zoe Prince 9.500; 2. Brooklyn Deguzman 9.433; 3. Amy Fridley 9.250; 4. Teah Schulte 9.200; 5.Rylee Olson 9.167; 6.Emma Hillerud 9.150; 7. Lydia Stoterau 9.083; 8.Abbey Thornton 9.017; 9 .Haley Nelson 8.833; 10.Jocey Kriewald 8.817; 11.Joanne Lee 8.783; 12. Mikah Schock 8.750; 13.Lauren Swanson 8.733; 14.Julia Skari 8.717; 15.Justice Christian 8.683; 16.Addison Fitterer 8.650; 17. Brooklyn Wariner 8.617; 18.Karina Olson 8.583; T18.Jericah Lockner 8.583; T18.Quinn Bassingthwaite 8.583; 21. Aspen Roadarmel 8.567; 22.Irelyn Ell 8.533; 23.Olivia Olson 8.483; T23.Gabbi Nelson 8.483; 25.Anna Wicklow 8.367; 26.Madison Deics 8.267; T26. Zoe Bjerke 8.267; 28. Anabelle Cramer 8.150; 29. Alyson Krug 8.200; 30.Haley Conklin 8.100; 31.Kendal Blair 8.067; 32.Anna Clifton 8.017; 33.Alexa Evenger 7.950; 34.Brenna Hatch 7.900; 35.Blair Arbuckle 7.750; 36.Alyssa Larson 7.700; 37.Anika Birkelo 7.617; 38.Kayla Lamoureux 7.450; T38.Ashlyn Guzman 7.450; 40.Samantha Simnioniw 7.417; 41. Delani Barrett 6.367.

Floor: 1. Amy Fridley 9.667; 2. Haley Nelson 9.600; 3. Emma Hillerud 9.533; 4. Madison Deics 9.500; T4. Olivia Olson 9.500; 6. Jocey Kriewald 9.433; 7. Brooklyn Deguzman 9.400; 8. Zoe Prince 9.367; 9. Julia Skari 9.350; 10. Aspen Roadarmel 9.333; 11. Joanne Lee 9.333; 12. Rylee Olson 9.317; T12. Anna Heil 9.317; 14. Abbey Thornton 9.300; 15. Grace Undem 9.233; T15. Sydney Fisher 9.233; 16. Karina Olson 9.183; 17. Gabbi Nelson 9.167; 18. Jericah Lockner 9.167; 19. Haley Conklin 9.083; 20. Brenna Hatch 9.000; 21. Halle Johnsrud 8.933; 22. Mikah Schock 8.933; 23. Addison Fitterer 8.900; 24.Teah Schulte 8.833; 25. Brooklyn Wariner 8.867; 26. Kayla Lamoureux 8.817; 27. Alexis Miller 8.817; 28.Samantha Simnioniw 8.750; 29.Lauren Swanson 8.717; 30. Anika Birkelo 8.700; T30. Alyson Krug 8.700; 32. Alyssa Larson 8.600; 33. Lydia Stoterau 8.583; T33. Quinn Bassingthwaite 8.583; 35. Anna Clifton 8.550; 36. Blair Arbuckle 8.500; 37. Delani Barrett 8.317; 38.Anna Wicklow 8.133.

Bars: 1. Amy Fridley 9.650; 2. Abbey Thornton 9.517; 3. Haley Nelson 9.433; 4.Jocey Kriewald 9.317; 5.Zoe Prince 9.100; 6.Macie Stanislawski 9.067; 7. Aspen Roadarmel 9.033; 8. Madison Deics 8.967; 9. Karina Olson 8.883; 10. Julia Skari 8.817; 11. Joanne Lee 8.783; 12. Teah Schulte 8.583; 13. Brooklyn Deguzman 8.567; 14. Emma Hillerud 8.500; 15. Haley Conklin 8.483; 16. Olivia Olson 8.367; T16. Quinn Bassingthwaite 8.367; 18. Rylee Olson 8.350; 19. Anna Clifton 8.333; 20. Addison Fitterer 8.300; 21. Brenna Hatch 8.267; T21. Maddie Wendel 8.267; 23. Blair Arbuckle 8.250; 24. Brooklyn Wariner 8.233; 25. Alyssa Larson 8.217; 26. Grace Undem 8.200; 27. Alyson Krug 8.183; 28. Lydia Stoterau 8.150; 29. Mikah Schock 8.133; 30. Gabbi Nelson 8.050; T30. Lauren Swanson 8.050; 32. Alexa Evenger 8.033; 33. Pavyn Peterson 8.027; 34. Irelyn Ell 8.000; 35. Anna Wicklow 7.967; 36. Samantha Simnioniw 7.950; 37. Kendal Blair 7.917; 38. Jericah Lockner 7.833; 39. Taylor Thueson 7.817; 40. Kayla Lamoureux 7.417; 41. Delani Barrett 6.983.

Vault: 1. Amy Fridley 9.833; 2. Zoe Prince 9.483; 3. Abbey Thornton 9.433; 4. Haley Nelson 9.400; 5. Jocey Kriewald 9.317; 6. Brooklyn Deguzman 9.350; 7. Emma Hillerud 9.083; 8. Julia Skari 9.300; 9. Madison Deics 9.317; 10. Aspen Roadarmel 9.000; 11. Karina Olson 9.233; 12. Joanne Lee 8.917; 13. Olivia Olson 9.033; 14.Teah Schulte 8.667; 15. Rylee Olson 8.200; 16. Addison Fitterer 9.067; 17. Grace Undem 8.917; 18. Gabbi Nelson 8.90; 19.Haley Conklin 8.917; 20. Jericah Lockner 8.983; 21. Lydia Stoterau 8.73; 22. Brooklyn Wariner 8.767; 23. Anna Clifton 9.183; 24. Alyson Krug 8.783; 25. Brenna Hatch 8.667; 26. Blair Arbuckle 8.900; 27. Alyssa Larson 8.650; 28. Samantha Simnioniw 8.900; 29. Kayla Lamoureux 8.433; 30. Delani Barrett 8.817; 31. Kendal Blair 8.917; 32. Anna Heil 8.983; 33. Sydney Fisher 8.817; 34. Halle Johnsrud 9.083; 35. Maddie Wendel 8.633; 36. Anabelle Cramer 8.600; 37. Autumn Daniels 9.033; 38. Hailee Hanson 8.900; 39. Jess Ranisate 8.883; 40. Ykria Schnieder 8.700; 41. Justice Christian 8.683.

2021 NDHSCA Gymnastics Senior Athlete of the Year: Rachel Schiele, Jamestown

2021 NDHSCA Gymnastics Coach of the Year: Dave Tews, Jamestown