Girls Gymnastics 2025: Owatonna wins first state championship in Class AA
Posted: Friday, February 21, 2025 - 9:37 PM
The Owatonna Huskies were confident. Friday night's final Girls Gymnastics State Meet Class AA Team Championships rotation had them on the balance beam at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in downtown St. Paul, just like when they clinched the Section 1AA title to get there.
That confidence was well placed. Owatonna's meet-best balance beam score of 37.200 propelled it to a total of 146.825 and the school's first Girls Gymnastics state championship.
"It's definitely one of the best events we have as a team so it just gave us the confidence to trust in each other and go out there and do our best," said senior Halle Theis, who competed in all four events Friday and completed the final rotation with a key score of 9.250.
The Huskies, who also posted the best score in floor exercise (37.575), finished just ahead of runner-up New Prague (146.450) and third-place Cretin-Derham Hall (146.425).
Third place had been a common team finish for Owatonna, including 2023, 2021 and 2019. This deep Huskies team with 13 gymnasts on the State Meet roster broke through to the top.
Cordelia Neumann (uneven bars and balance beam), Johanna Spielman (vault) and Ava Maves (floor exercise) produced Owatonna's top scores.
"It's like, wow, we actually just did that," Theis said. "It doesn't even seem real."
New Prague scored best in vault (37.825) Friday, while Cretin-Derham Hall's 35.550 was the top uneven bars score.
