JANE SPELBRINK, New Ulm, placed fourth with 6.2 in the vaulting competition and second with 25.7 in the all-around competition, 1.4 points behind Tari Gould, Fairmont, who finished first. (Photo by Dan Seifert)

LAKE CRYSTAL — For the second straight year,New Ulm High School’s girls gymnastics team is going to the state meet. New Ulm was fourth in the 1975 state meet.

The Eagles edged arch rival Fairmont 77.4 to 75.75 points for Section Two championship Saturday at Lake Crystal.

Windom was a distant third with 68.15 points, Mankato West fourth at 66.6,Redwood Falls fifth at 62.0 and St. James last at 60.5. Each of three sub-sectionals held a week earlier advanced the top two teams to the sectional.

A year ago, New Ulm won Region Three girls gym meet. A wholesale realignment of schools this year put F New Ulm in Section Two with 28 other schools.

As sectional champion, New Ulm will compete as a team in the girls state gymnastics meet Friday and Saturday at Armstrong High School in Plymouth.

ROBIN BERG, New Ulm, performs a one-handed walk-over on the balance beam. Robin had the highest individual score on the balance beam (7.2.and she finished third in the all-around competition with a total of 24.7 (Photo by Art Hanson)

Eight sectional team champions will compete for the team title Friday. Two events will be held in the afternoon and two more at night.

In addition, the first round of individual qualifying will be held Friday. Individuals compete again Saturday and the two-day scores are totaled to determine individual champions.

THERE WERE some anxious moments before Coach Sandy Fritz’s Eagles were assured victory over the coach’s home town of Fairmont.

New Ulm led Fairmont by less than two points into the final round. The Eagles were on floor exercise and Fairmont on the balance beam where New Ulm almost blew its chances earlier. New Ulm came through floor ex with 19.8 team score while Fairmont could do no more than 19.6 on the beam.

What happened on the beam?

KAREE RASUMSSEN scored 6.6. for her performance in the floor exercise competition (Photo by Dan Seifert)

“The team that is up first on an event usually gets the jitters,”explained Coach Fritz. “Also, the judges seem to be more conservative in scoring at the beginning but raise the scoring as the meet progresses.”

The first four Eagles on the beam had falls that deducted from otherwise good routines. The only one to hit well was Robin Berg who scored 7.2, the best individual score of the entire meet for any event.

That 7.2, unfortunately, didn’t help Berg get a medal on the beam as she was not one of the four sub-sectional qualifiers from the previous week. However, the 7.2 did put her in third place all-around. That was worth a medal and a trip to the state meet. The top three individuals in each event qualified for the state event.

New Ulm scored 19.1 on the beam despite the falls, 19.8 on floor ex, 20.7 on uneven bars and 19.1 on vaulting. Fairmont’s skip was vaulting with 16.8 score.

BESIDES BERG qualifying all-around, New Ulm qualified four others for individual participation at the state meet.

The Spelbrink twins, Jane and Jean, were 1-2 on the uneven bars; Jane Spelbrink was second all-around with 25.7 points; Nancy Backer was second on vaulting (just .05 out of first place) and Karee Rasmussen was second on the beam.

Not qualifying in individual events but competing in the state as part of New Ulm’s team are Sue Voves, Nancy Zimmerman.

INDIVIDUAL STANDOUT was Tari Gould, only a seventh grader, from Fairmont. She won first place all-around medal with 27.1 points for the four events.

Top six all-around

1. Tari Gould, Fairmont 27.1

2. Jane Spelbrink, New Ulm 25.7

3.Robin Berg, New Ulm 24.7

4.Jean Spelbrink, New Ulm 24.25

5.Hope Bogle, Windom 22.4

6.Lee Ann Dunlavey, Jackson 21.55

Uneven bars

1.Jane Spelbrink, New Ulm 6.95

2.Jean Spelbrink, New Ulm 6.85

3. Tari Gould, Fairmont 6.5

4.Lynette Kozitza, Mankato 6.4

5.Hope Bogle, Windom 6.3

6. Robin Berg, New Ulm 6.05

Vaulting

1.Tari Gould, Fairmont 6.7

2. Nancy Backer, New Ulm 6.65

3.Hope Bogle, Windom 6.3

4. Jane Spelbrink, New Ulm 6.2

5.Shelly Haugen,Windom 5.9

6. Nancy Zimmerman, New Ulm 5.8

Floor exercise

1.Tari Gould, Fairmont 7.05

2. Diana Lutz, Fairmont 6.8

3. Kathy Fuller, Windom 6.8

4.Beth Reed, Wilson 6.7

5.Robin Berg, New Ulm 6.6

6. Cindy Zimmer, Fairmont 6.5

Balance beam

1.Tari Gould, Fairmont 0.9

2.Karee Rasmussen, New Ulm 5.7

3. Julie Dunlop, Mankato 5.65

4.Jean Spelbrink, New Ulm 5.45

5.Nancy Zimmerman, New Ulm 5.3

6.Diane Nettifee, Fairmont 5.1