Owatonna Gymnastics Team Enjoying its Record-Setting Season [Coach Interview]

Hopes were high early this season that school records would fall for the Owatonna High School gymnastics team. And those marks have tumbled in recent meets.

Huskies coach Tom Smith told the KRFO coach show early this season that he felt the school record would be broken. It finally happened at the second-to-last meet of the regular season on January 23 at Park of Cottage Grove. Smith called it "exciting and rewarding" during the radio show on January 30.

He said the team was coming off a late night at Rochester the night before and hoped that "we just have a good meet." Turned out to be much more than that. The Huskies set a new school record with a 149.4, which was also the highest Class AA score of the season at the time. "Everybody stuck. It was a day of disbelief almost. It was just like that perfect meet were looking for." OHS set school records in beam, floor and vault as well. The team then reset the vault record in the following meet against top-10-ranked Austin.

The Huskies still have some big goals in front of them with the Big Nine Conference meet being held at Owatonna High School beginning at 1PM Saturday, February 6. The Section 1AA meet will follow on Friday, February 12, also in Owatonna. The Huskies could cap an impressive season with good showings in those events. Owatonna has never advanced to state as a team. The squad would welcome that chance over any additional school records.