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Teammates Reagan Kelley and Anna Mielke seize the top two spots in Class 1A

By JIM PAULSEN, Star Tribune, 02/19/22, 10:30PM CST

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The Watertown-Mayer/Mount Westonka gymnasts added individual success to the team championship.


Reagan Kelley of Watertown-Mayer/Mound Westonka showed off the skills that made her the Class 1A individual gymnastics champion. Photos by KIP KOVAR, Herald Journal

It wouldn’t be accurate to call it a battle. The quest for the Class 1A all-around championship was predictable in its participants, Watertown-Mayer/Mound Westonka teammates Reagan Kelley and Anna Mielke. Call it a ...

“Dynamic duo,” Mielke said.

One night after Kelley and Mielke teamed up to spark a Royals rally en route to their second straight Class 1A team championship, the all-around competition featured the same pair, only this time facing off with the title on the line.

Kelley threw down the challenge early and built a slight lead going into the vault, the final event of the night.

Kelley posted a 9.7. Mielke needed a perfect vault to catch her teammate and nearly pulled it off with back-to-back scores of 9.8. It made for fine drama but not quite enough to catch Kelley, whose score of 38.475 won the all-around. Mielke finished second with a 38.375.

Big Lake’s Britney Krumrei was third with 37.575.

“It feels insane,” Kelley said of being all-around champion. “And the best part is that when my name was called, everyone stood up and I felt so happy and loved and supported. It’s the best feeling.”

Mielke said the way things turned out was quite all right with her as well.

“Honestly, this has been the most fun meet of my life,” she said. “Just being able to be in this environment ... for me meant a lot.”

Mielke finished first in two events, winning the vault — her 9.8 was the best individual score of the night — and the floor exercise with a 9.625. Kelley took the balance beam championship (9.725), and Big Lake’s Lola Visci won the uneven bars with a 9.575.

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