ST. CLOUD – Lauren Berg made history on Saturday, becoming the first Bemidji High School gymnast to ever qualify for state in the all-around.
Berg placed second on the individual leaderboard at the Section 8AA meet in St. Cloud on Saturday, and the Lumberjacks also placed second in the team rankings. Berg – alongside fellow seniors Tatum Offerdahl and Mady Schmidt – will represent BHS as individuals at the Class AA state meet.
Berg finished with an all-around total of 36,975, which ranked second among all 68 competing gymnasts in the section. She did it behind three top-four finishes, placing second on vault (9.725), third on floor (9.55) and fourth on beam (9.2). Berg rounded out her score by taking 15th on bars (8.5).
Offerdahl booked her state trip by taking second on bars with a score of 9,225, while Schmidt did so by claiming third on floor at 9.55.
The veteran Lumberjack trio is now stranger to state. Schmidt is making her second career trip, Berg her third and Offerdahl her fifth.
Schmidt previously qualified for state on floor (2021), while Berg has gone for vault (2019 and 2020) and beam (2021). Offerdahl is the most veteran of the bunch, as she’s now qualified on bars for the fifth consecutive year.
BHS finished with a team score of 142.3 on Saturday, trailing only first-place St. Cloud Tech’s 147,325. Third-place Brainerd tallied a total of 142.15.
Taylar Schaefer of St. Cloud Tech ran away with the all-around title. She accumulated a score of 38.2 behind first-place performances on vault (9.8), floor (9.725) and bars (9.525). Brenna Deason of Brainerd was the individual beam champ with a score of 9.4.
Bemidji also had a number of individuals finish inside the top 20 of their respective events.
Schmidt scored a top-10 finish by placing ninth on beam (9,025). Her 13th-place finish on vault (9.15) and 18th-place finish on bars (8,325) added up to a 36.05 all-around score, good for fifth in the section.
Aubrey DeWitt was 23rd in the all-around with a score of 25,675. She took 11th on beam (8.825) and 14th on bars (8.5). Samara Osborn was 13th on bars (8.55), while Chloe Workman placed 19th on floor at 8.875.
Senior Leah Lucas closed her Lumberjack career with a 20th-place showing on beam at 8,325.
The Class AA state meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19, beginning at 11 am each day, at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul.
