The pressure was off Thursday night and the Aberdeen Central gymnasts took advantage of the opportunity to gear up for next week’s state meet.

No team points were kept during a Last Chance Meet, which also included squads from Pierre and Watertown.

“The goal for us was kind of just have fun, have a good practice meet before state,” said Central senior Johanna Jarrott, “maybe try new skills, see how it goes, and just get ready for state.”

Jarrott, who ended up with the top score in the vault, said the team didn’t pay too much attention on the scores during the meet.

“We were kind of just focused on just performing well,” Jarrott said. “We weren’t focused on scores tonight.”

Jarrott missed her entire junior season after suffering an injury. While most of her routines came back naturally, there was one event that took a little bit of adjustment.

“Something that I didn’t really expect was that I was scared, like running at a stationary object like vault,” Jarrott said, “like this sport is scarier than I remembered it was.”

The Eagles are coming off a strong showing at the Eastern South Dakota Conference meet last weekend. They were able to exhale on Thursday before the upcoming state meet next week in Pierre.

“Of course our point is to have fun, but at ESD of course we wanted to try to make it to state, so we wanted to do our best,” said Addison Everson. “But here we didn’t really have to worry about anything, so we could really focus on having fun which was nice.”

The junior said even next week’s state meet won’t be as pressure filled as having to qualify for the event.

“You’ve made it to the best, I mean state’s as far as you can go, so mostly just go out to have fun,” Everson said. “It’s not like you have to try to get a good score to get to somewhere else.”

Central coach Mickey Everson said the goal is always to have fun. It helps the gymnasts to perform better.

“We actually went into our ESD with the mindset that this is fun,” the coach said, “because if they feel that pressure, that this counts for something really important, they fall apart. And it paid off. They did great.”

While there were no awards handed out on Thursday, Everson was particularly pleased with how her members fared on the beam, something that has been a source of frustration from time to time.

“Normally, I think I’ve said in the past, that beam is what makes it or breaks it. If this would have been a team one, I would have been so proud,” Coach Everson said. “Every one of them, I think we had one minor fall. And for everyone to stick a beam routine, I just hope that all comes together at the same time as everything else.”

The home meet provided one last opportunity to compete in front of family and friends.

“I think the girls performed really well and didn’t feel the pressure tonight,” Coach Everson said. “It’s fun to be at home and have this atmosphere with everybody cheering for us.”

Vault: 1, Johanna Jarrott, Aberdeen Central, 9.000; 2, Kirsten Korber, Pierre, 8.950; 3, (tie) Ashlynn Andrews, Watertown, 8.900, and Maddy Walberg, Aberdeen Central, 8.900; 5, (tie) Addison Everson, Aberdeen Central, 8.850, and Nevaeh Karber, Pierre, 8.850; 7 Alexis Bomesberger, Aberdeen Central, 8.750; 8, Ryen Sheppick, Pierre, 8.700.

Other Central results: 11, Kalli Rowden, 8.450; 12, Regan Lust, 8.400.

Beam: 1, Shauna Evenson, Watertown, 9.500; 2, Ashlynn Andrews, Watertown, 9.350; 3, Ryen Sheppick, Pierre, 9.200; 4, Macy Olsen, Watertown, 9.00; 5, Briana McElhany, Watertown, 8.850; 6, Rebecca Spitzer, Pierre, 8.800; 7, Johanna Jarrott, Aberdeen Central, 8.700; 8, Regan Lust, Aberdeen Central, 8.600.

Other Central results: 9, Alexis Bomesberger, 8.500; 12, Hattie Gederos, 8.350; 15, Addison Everson, 8.00; 16, (tie) Maddy Walberg, 7.900.

Bars: 1, KaCee Wilson, Pierre, 8.350; 2, Marli Wadworth, Watertown, 8.100; 3, Shauna Evenson, Watertown, 8.050; 4, (tie) Izzy Loecker, Aberdeen Central, 7.650, and Maddy Walberg, Aberdeen Central, 7.650; 6, (tie) Madelyn Merrill, Pierre, 7.550, and Ryen Sheppick, Pierre, 7.550; 8, Addison Everson, Aberdeen Central, 7.500.

Other Central results: 13, (tie) Kalli Rowden, 7.050, and Johanna Jarrott, 7.050; 15, Alexis Bomesberger, 7.000.

Floor: 1, Shauna Evenson, Watertown, 9.300; 2, Marli Wadsworth, Watertown, 8.900; 3, Regan Lust, Aberdeen Central, 8.700; 4, Ryen Sheppick, Pierre, 8.650; 5, (tie) Nevaeh Karber, Pierre, 8.600, and Addison Everson, Aberdeen Central, 8.600; 7, Ashlynn Andrews, Watertown, 8.450; 8, Maddy Walberg, Aberdeen Central, 8.400.

Other Central results: 11, Johanna Jarrott, 8.100; 13, Alexis Bomesberger, 8.000; 14, Hattie Gederos, 7.550.