State gymnastics: Individual titles decided on final day of state meet

THORNTON – On the third and final day of the 2022 gymnastics state championships, the individual champions were crowned in each of the four events for both Classes 5A and 4A.

In Class 5A, Chatfield senior Adia Friesen took home the individual title on beam with an impressive score of 9.800. It was an excellent way to cap of not just her senior year, but her first season competing in high school gymnastics.

“I was really nervous for beam and mainly beam because I really wanted to do well in that one,” Friesen said. “This is my first year of high school gymnastics and it’s been really fun. I’ve met a lot of really cool people and I’ve gotten a lot closer with my teammates. It’s really awesome because high school gymnastics is a lot more like a team sport.”

All the other 5A gold medals went home with Lakewood’s Lauren Burt.

Coming off winning the 5A all-around title on Thursday night, Lakewood’s Lauren Burt claimed the individual title in the vault with a score of 9.875. She also won the floor exercise with a score of 9.850, as well as the uneven bars with a score of 9.750.

“It was a whirlwind. It was super exciting to be up there and it was really fun to be competing,” Burt said. “It felt really good coming into today and about just doing exactly what I had done on Thursday night, and be consistent. Winning the all-around was also a big deal because that was one of my goals coming into the season and there’s a lot of great competition out there. I just wanted to come in, do my best and have fun.”

In Class 4A, Evergreen’s Lola Visci scored a 9.725 to win the individual title on bars. Tessa Grudle of Standley Lake, Friday’s 4A all-around champion, won with floor exercise title with a score of 9.575. Palmer Ridge’s Braelyn Marr won the beam title with a score of 9.575. Niwot’s Kylee Schlepp put up a 9.725 in the vault to take home the gold.

On Thursday night, Broomfield won its second straight 5A team title and on Friday night, Elizabeth won its fourth straight team championship in 4A.