FORT PIERRE - The Pierre gymnastics team recovered from a subpar performance on the beam to win the annual Stanley County Hula Luau on Saturday at Parkview Gym.
The Lady Governors scored a 128-point team total to win handily over second-place Vermillion. The Tanagers, making their first-ever appearance in Fort Pierre, scored a 121.85. It was the Lady Govs' fourth straight win in the meet.
The beam was the only event where Pierre failed to breach the 30-point barrier.
"It was the floor that made up for our poor beam," Pierre coach Nicki Abels said. "Our vault needs a lot of work as well. The beam and vault are what we are going to be working on. They've got neat skills. It just takes concentration and focus."
The host Lady Buffs surpassed the 120-point mark to take third place. Equally important, they finished ahead of Hot Springs, which had won the Stanley County Central meet three weeks ago.
"Our goal is always to hit 120," said Stanley County coach Jodi Gabriel, who also won the post-meet hula hoop contest in the coaches division.
Seventh-grader Lexi Lopour scored a 31.65 to lead the Lady Buffs in the all-around, her highest score ever.
Sara Jeffries also broke the 30-point barrier and needs only one more score of 30 or better to gain automatic qualification to the state tournament.
Individually, the top all-arounder was Samantha Dvorak of Wagner with a score of 34.3. It was the highest score in the tournament in three years.
Competing in her first meet of the year was Pierre's Shelby Abels, who won the bars with a 8.95. Teammate Jenna Goehring won the floor with an 9.25.
"Jenna had strep throat as of Wednesday, so she's still not at 100 percent," Abels said. "Shelby didn't go all-around. We have a couple of girls who are still working on skills. Considering all that, I'll give them a little bit of a break."
Amy Kenobbie of Chamberlain won the beam with a 8.55 and Skye Lindquist of Kadoka won the vault with a 9.0.
Pierre, Stanley County and Chamberlain will compete in a triangular on Tuesday in Pierre. Saturday, Pierre will host its big gymnastics meet of the season at Riggs Gym. The 11-team meet will include defending meet champion Rapid City Stevens.
