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Expectations Are Met For PL Gymnasts

By Tom Schardin, 03/06/22, 8:30PM CST

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Junior Terin Block and ninth-grader Annie Draine more than held their own against the state’s best gymnasts.

The two were representing Prior Lake at the Class AA state individual meet Feb. 19 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. Block was there in the all-around, while Draine competed on the balance beam.

“After an amazing Section 6AA meet by the team, Terin and Annie lived up to expectations as individual competitors at the state level,” Coach Patrick Kloeckner said.

Both Block and Draine were making their first-ever state appearances. Block finished 17th in the all-around with a score of 35.587. Taylar Schaefer of St. Cloud was the winner (38.200).

Draine won the Section 2AA title on the balance beam Feb. 11 with a score 9.275. She had a score of 9.0375 at state which placed her 15th.

Block ended up 28th on both the beam (8.875) and the uneven bars (8.75), 31st on the floor exercise (9.125) and 47th on the vault (8.37).

“We started the day on beam and I know that can cause some extra nerves as the first event can set the tone for the day,” Kloeckner said. “The rest of our team showed up to support Terin and Annie and because of that support we had a great day.

“Annie went third on beam in our rotation and had to go up after two falls, so the fact that she stuck her routine and got her second-highest score of the year was quite impressive,” Kloeckner added.

Kloecker said Block hit on all four of her routines.

“After such a long week, exhaustion started to sink in around our third rotation,” Kloeckner said. “Terin struggled a little bit with her vault, her least favorite event, in warmups, but she was able to pull through during the meet.

“The (Section 6AA) girls all supported and cheered for each other and I think that went a long way into giving everyone the support they needed for the day,” Kloeckner added. “Terin was able to pull through her nerves and end the state meet with her second-highest all-around score ever.”

Block was second in the section meet in the all-around with a score of 36.525.

Prior Lake ended up second in the team standings at sections with a season-high score of 142.050. New Prague won the title (145.475) and then went to finish second in the state team standings (145.725) behind champion Wayzata (146.200).

The Lakers have had at least one gymnast at state in 13 of the last 14 years. The one season in the span they didn’t was in 2020.

Prior Lake won the Section 2AA team title in 2013 and finished a program-best seventh at state that year.

“I’m hoping this experience can help fuel the girls to more success and a return trip to next year’s state meet with even more athletes,” Kloeckner said.