The Prior Lake gymnastics team is hoping to increase difficulty over the holiday break.

The Lakers had their best team score of the season Dec. 20 in a meet at Eden Prairie with a 134.075. The No. 9-ranked Eagles won with a 141.475.

Prior Lake also dropped a South Suburban Conference home meet to Lakeville South Dec. 18, finishing with a 133.1, compared the Cougars' 136.1.

The Lakers will be off until Jan. 5 when it competes in the New Prague Invitational at 11 a.m.

"We struggled a bit more with beam [at Eden Prairie], but it was our first away meet of the season," Lakers coach Barb Kass said. "So I think that made a difference. We had very solid performances on the other events.

"We are planning on increasing our difficultly over Christmas Break, so we should see an increase in scores in January," Kass added.

Against Eden Prairie, sophomore Hannah Walter competed in the all-around for the Lakers, taking third with a score of 32.65.

Prior Lake's best finish on the vault came from sophomore Lydia Pavek (4th, 9.15). Ninth-grader Sydney Springer led the team on the uneven bars (4th, 8.075), while ninth-grader Kylie Thompson led the way on the beam (5th, 8.45) and eighth-grader Alex Burger had the team's top score on the floor exercise (5th, 8.875).

Pavek was also fifth on the uneven bars (8.025), while Burger was fifth on the vault (9.075).

Against Lakeville South, Thompson picked up the Lakers' lone win, finishing first on the balance beam with a score of 8.775. Pavek was runner-up on the uneven bars (8.0) and on the vault (9.075).

Burger was third on the vault (8.9), while Walter was third on the bars (7.85). Walter also competed in the all-around, taking fourth (32.2).

Other fourth-place finishes for the Lakers: Burger on the floor (8.875), seventh-grader Brooke Thompson on the beam (8.625) and Springer on the bars (7.7).

"We had solid performances on all four events," Kass said. "More than half the of the varsity and junior varsity combined stuck their beam routines."