Some of the top northeastern South Dakota gymnasts since December of 1984

Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam is compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December of 1984. The series is about northeastern South Dakota athletes, but some played at colleges all over the state and others have moved to other areas.

The journey back in time to put together this "20 Favorites" story on some of the best area high school gymnasts since December of 1984, and also for the next installment (Watertown High School gymnasts), has been fascinating.

It could be said that no other high school sport has advanced so much in skill level in the past 40 years more than gymnastics and that is at least part of the reason why this list is dominated by gymnasts who have competed the past 20 years rather than the previous 20.

Up next in the series, as previously mentioned, will be Watertown High School gymnasts.

Ready, let's go to the area gymnasts.

20. Others

It should be mentioned that Deuel, Britton-Hecla (Britton) Milbank (Milbank Area) and Sisseton and relative newcomer Estelline-Hendricks are the only area schools that offer gymnastics, competing at what is now the state's Class A level. At one point, the two-class system was Class A and B. Now it's Class AA and A. Another area school that offered gymnastics into the 2000s was Clark.

Some other gymnasts that deserve mention by school include: Britton-Hecla (Whitney Bredvik, Ramy Hagen, Sarah Claeys, Mariah Nickeson, Tyra Gefroh, Amanda Jones, Kelly Wismer and Sterling Mertens), Clark (Lisa Gould and Angie O'Neil), Milbank (Stacy Hermans, Whitney Wojahn, Greta Snaza, Erin Holtquist, Natalie Stohr, Mackenzie Weinkauf, Kaitlin Wiseman, Mary Lenards, Kaitlyn Pinkert, Emma VanVooren, Kristin Hammer, Dani Yamaura and Aubrey Fraasch), Sisseton (Angel LaFontaine, Jenna Richards, Katie Christopherson, Kimber Erickson, and Kailee Rinas) and Deuel (Anne Gabrys, Alex Stein, Hannah Cutshaw, Hope Bjerke, Elise Hotzler, Brooklyn Peterson, Annabelle Hawley, Kelly Wollschlager and Layce Anderson). l'm sure there are many others I could mention and I apologize for that.

19. Melissa St. Sauver, Britton

This screams of favoritism and I know it. Melissa St. Sauver, most of you may recognize her now as Melisssa Van Gilder, was a state place winner Braves in high school.

She has spent years giving back to the sport as a head/assistant coach for Watertown High School. St. Sauver (Van Gilder) placed seventh in the balance beam and eighth in the all-around competition in the 1990 state meet.

18. Beckie Sime, Britton

Brett and Bart Sime were standout athletes at Britton in the early 1990s and even spent at least a year competing in Watertown. Beckie is their sister. Their father Al was a long-time coach and official from Britton.

Beckie's on this list because she placed fifth in 1997 and seventh in 1996 in the state Class A all-around competition.

20 Favorites: Links to the stories highlighting the best northeastern South Dakota athletes since 1984

17. Jacke Hansen, Deuel

In 2012 after years of trying, the resurgent Deuel High School gymnastics program coached by Lynn Gudmundson ended Madison's streak of 16-straight state Class A championships and began a fabulous run that continues to this day.

Contrary to public belief, Deuel had good gymnasts well before that. Hansen took seventh in 1993 and ninth in 1994 in the state Class A all-around competition.

16. Amy Schrader, Deuel/Deuel-Sioux Valley

There's going to be a lot of Deuel in this story, so get used to it. The Cardinals' success stretches even further back than Hansen.

In 1991, Scrader recorded a runner-up finish in the state Class A all-around competition and followed in fifth-place finish in 1992 when Deuel co-oped with Sioux Valley.

Interesting, I'm sure gymnastics is the only sport those two schools formed a co-op for. Clear Lake (Deuel) and Sioux Valley (Volga) are separated by 32 miles.

15. Katie Boehnke, Clark

I refused to put together this list and not include one Comet.

Boehnke gets the nod because she placed 10th in the all-around competition at the 2004 state meet, seventh in 2005 and fifth in 2006.

`14. Amanda Johnson, Britton-Hecla

If I'm reading all my research notes correctly, Johnson was a four-time top-10 finisher in the Class A all-around competition.

Johnson placed eighth in 1998, seventh in 1999 in 2000 and eighth in 2001.

13. Anett Marton, Sisseton

If you want to know who traveled the furthest to make this list, it's Marton and it's not even close.

Now that I have your attention or confusion, Marton was a foreign-exchange student from Budapest, Hungary when she arrived in Sisseton for the 1991-92 school year.

She made it memorable by finishing second in the state Class A all-around competition.

12. Courtney Guy and Kellie Marohl, Sisseton

We're going back-to-back or if you want to nitpick, back-to-back-to back, with Sisseton gymnasts here.

Guy also was a four-time top-10 finisher in the state Class A all-around competition (ninth in 1996, seventh in 1997, sixth in 1998 and fifth in 1999.

Marohl was a teammate and two-time top-10 finisher. She took ninth in 1997 and sixth in 1999.

11. Kelli Heitman, Britton-Hecla

Susan Heitman was a long-time gymnastics coach for Britton and Britton-Hecla and I'd bet that Kelli is her daughter or at least a relative.

The younger Heitman gets special mention here because she took sixth in the all-around competition at state in 2002 and came back the next year to tie for second place with Milbank's Elizabeth Sinclair.

10. Rachel Blue and MaKia Moe, Deuel

One of many Deuel standouts the past 10 years or so, Blue might get lost in the shuffle when compared to some of the Cardinal gymnasts to follow on this list.

She was good and you don't even have to take my word for it. She placed third (2018), fourth (2019) and second (2020) in the Class A all-around competition at state.

Sorry about the pairing here, but I almost forgot to mention Moe. As a sophomore last winter, she finished second in the state Class A all-around competition. She's still got time to add to her high school accomplishments, but is out this season with an injury.

9. Brooke Skoglumd, Britton-Hecla

The Britton and Britton-Hecla program doesn't have a state championship, but it's been pretty solid for many years. Britton finished as the Class A runner-up six consecutive years from 1996 through 2001 and Britton-Hecla added runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008.

Skoglund made her mark in the 2015 state meet, winning the balance beam and tying for fifth in the all-around competition. She also medaled in a couple of events as a senior in 2017.

More: Love of the sport

8. Elizabeth Sinclair, Milbank

Jeanne Sinclair spent 37 years as the head coach of the Milbank gymnastics program before retiring in 2015 and also coached her daughters Stephanie and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is the only Milbank gymnasts to win a state title and that came in the uneven bars in 2003 when she finished second in the state all-around competition. She added a fourth-place finish in the all-around in 2004.

7. Morgan Kwasniewski, Deuel

Like Blue, Kwasniewski might get lost a little bit in the shuffle of top-notch Deuel gymnasts. Again, she's very deserving. She had six top-10 finishes in the all-around competition at state that including titles in 2018 and 2019, a runner-up finish in 2017 and a third-place finish as a senior in 2020.

Kwasnieski recorded 10 event titles at the state Class A meet.

6. Paige Simon, Deuel

Like Blue and Kwasniewski, Simon might .... look above at the start of Kwasniewswki's report above.

Another Cardinal, another stud. She captured state Class A all-around titles in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and is fourth in state history with 12 event titles in the state Class A meet.

We should mention that Blue, Kwasniewski and Simon helped Caitlin Steffensen guide Deuel to four state Class A titles in a row from 2018 through 2021.

5. Sadie and Sophie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks

Estelline-Hendricks coach Sherri Johnson and her husband Gary built "The Barn" on their farm near Hendricks (Minn.) that serves as a practice and meet gymnastics facility for the program. A former gymnast, coach and official, Johnson helped start the Estelline-Hendricks program in 2019 and the rest is history. The Redhawks won the state Class A title last February and could repeat this winter.

Johnson's daughter's Sophie and Sadie have both been standouts for the Redhawks. Sophire set the pace by finishing sixth in the Class A all-around competition at state in 2019 and improved to a fourth-place finish in 2020.

Younger sister Sadie was seventh in the Class A all-around competition in 2019, fifth in 2020, second in 2021, second in 2022 and first in 2023. She's also won three other individual event titles at state and certainly has a chance to add to those numbers in her final state high school meet next month.

4. Courtney Trapp, Milbank

In almost every one of my "20 Favorites" stories I mention that the order isn't a big deal until I get down to the final three spots or more. Trapp, however, is one of the reasons I've called this series "20 Favorites" and not something else. She deserves to be on the list but might not have the total numbers of others, but there's a reason for that.

The rise of Watertown, Deuel and other gymnastics programs these past 20 to 25 years has happened because of the addition of gymnastics clubs in various places around the state. Gymnasts start earlier (like age 4 or whatever) and train all-year round.

Now, what I remember most about Trapp is she was a very talented all-around athlete who was chasing Deuel (and club) standouts Sam Wiekamp and Meaghan Sievers .... see more below. I don't believe Trapp had the same gymnastics training but still finished fourth in the all-around competition at state in 2022 and third in 2013.

She became a pole vaulter at South Dakota State, one of a number of gymnasts who have taken that path.

3. Danielle Sievers, University of Oklahoma

Everybody's in an uproar now. What? University of Oklahoma, how does she make this list. First of all, Sievers grew up in Gary and attended school at Deuel.

She never competed for Deuel High School, becoming a Level 10 gymnast for All-American Gymnastics in Sioux Falls and eventually earned a scholarship to Oklahoma, where she's has been a key member of the past two NCAA national championship teams.

She's now a junior for the Sooners. No other area gymnast with ties to northeastern South Dakota has accomplished as much in the sport at the Division I level, although ...

2. Meaghan Sievers, Deuel

The 2015 Deuel High School graduate, and Danielle's older sister, is one of the most stories Class A gymnasts in state history despite giving up her final two years of the sport in high school for club training that eventually led to a scholarship and a successful NCAA Division I career at Iowa State University.

She won Class A all-around championships in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and sparked the Cardinals to state A titles in 2011-13.

Sievers ended her career with 10 state Class A titles.

1. Sam Wiekamp, Deuel

My original thoughts were that Wiekamp and Meghan Sievers should share the No. 1 spot and there's no doubt that the Sievers' sisters are certainly deserving.

But .... Wiekamp also matched Meaghan Sievers with three state Class A all-around titles (2008, 2009 and 2011) and holds the all-time state record with 19 career State A event titles. Two former Madison gymnasts are next in line with 14.

WIekamp later competed in college at the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Roger Merriam's 20 Favorites series continues with area high school gymnastics