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The top 15 point-getters in the conference - gymnasts receive points for placing in a meet - receive All Conference honors. Nehowig earned All Conference honors in gymnastics for the fifth straight year. Kotten, after two years of being honorable mention, earned All Conference honors for the first time this year.

Junior Kacy Nehowig finished seventh on the bars, ninth on the vault, and 12th in the all around at the conference meet on Saturday and earned All Conference honors in gymnasitics for the fifth straight year.

Nehowig placed seventh in the uneven bars (8.25) and ninth in the vault (8.85) to lead the Dogs with two top-ten placings. She earned All Conference honors despite missing two conference meets before Christmas due to injury.

Kotten placed in the top 15 on three events on Saturday: beam (13th, 7.85), bars (15th, 7.75), and floor exercise (15th, 8.4), as well as in the all around (11th, 32.45). She improved from 17th in the all around last year at the conference meet to 11th this year.

Kotten edged Nehowig on the floor (16th, 8.2) and in the all around (12th, 32.025).

The only other Paynesville gymnast to place in the top 20 in an event was junior Brittney Spanier. She scored a season high of 8.55 on the vault to place 18th, and she also placed 20th on the bars (6.35).

As a team, the Dogs placed fifth on every apparatus and finished fifth overall. Their best event was the vault, where they scored a season high of 33.95, coming with three points of first-place Melrose (36.95). The Dutchmen won the bars, beam, and vault and won the conference meet by four points over Benson. New London-Spicer won the floor exercise and finished third, another point behind Benson.

Ninth grader Anna Kotten earned All Conference honors in gymnastics for the first time this year, after receiving honorable mention honors for the past two years. She sealed the honor - given to the top 15 gymnasts in the conference, based on placings - by finishing 11th in the all around at the conference meet, including 13th on the balance beam.

The Dogs also had a good day as a team on the floor exercise, scoring 31.0, which is just a quarter of a point away from the season high of 31.35 against NL-S in January.

This week, the Dogs will compete in the Section 6A meet at Benson on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 11 a.m. (The march-in starts at 10:45 a.m.) Paynesville's section includes all the conference teams as well as Litchfield and Ortonville.

The top team as well as the top four individuals in each event at sections qualify for state.

Team Scores
1) Melrose 142.075 2) Benson 137.925 3) New London-Spicer 136.8 4) Prairie Centre Area 126.4 5) Paynesville 118.225 6) Morris Area 95.1 Individual Results
Vault: Kacy Nehowig (9) 8.85; Brittney Spanier (18) 8.55; Anna Kotten (19) 8.45; Megan Wuertz (22) 8.1; Cassey Lund (26) 7.95; TOTAL: Pay (5) - 33.95; Mel (1) - 36.85;

Uneven bars: Nehowig (7) 8.25; Kotten (15) 7.75; Spanier (20) 6.35; Wuertz (24) 4.45; Caitlyn Gottwald (29) 1.85; TOTAL: Pay (5) - 26.8; Mel (1) - 34.45;

Balance beam: Kotten (13) 7.85; Nehowig (21) 6.725; Gottwald (24) 6.2; Lund (27) 5.7; Spanier (28) 5.4; TOTAL: Pay (5) - 26.475; Mel (1) - 34.825;

Floor: Kotten (15) 8.4; Nehowig (16) 8.2; Gottwald (25) 7.4; Spanier (26) 7.0; Wuertz (27) 6.95; TOTAL: Pay (5) - 31.0; NL-S (1) - 36.35;

All around: Kotten (11) 32.45; Nehowig (12) 32.025.