File Photo by Jake Olson: Martin County Area gymnast Lillie Schultz prepares for her balance beam routine during this year's MCA Invite on Jan 3.

FAIRMONT – Thoughts of making the Minnesota High School girls’ gymnastics state tournament are prevalent in any athlete’s mind heading into their respective section meets. While teams can qualify with first-place finishes, the other gymnasts have to fight, scratch, and claw their way past one another to secure a spot at the individual stage. Easier said than done.

Martin County Area’s Lillie Schultz walked into last Friday’s Section 2A Championship with the mentality of helping her team make the state tournament for the first time in over 10 seasons. But in the back of the sophomore’s mind, she knew that with a clean night, she had a shot at reaching the state tournament for the second straight season.

“I wanted to do well for the team,” Schultz said. “At the end of the day, the individual scores matter, but you are a team. We wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for all of us. You do it for the team, but in the back of your head, you think you could go [to state].”

Schultz’s warm-up on uneven bars told you otherwise. As the entire Magic team was adjusting to the elevated mats at K&G Gymnastics, Schultz’s first attempt on the apparatus ended with a bleeding big toe and a search for a Band-Aid.

“Their mats are different than ours, so you add about four inches,” Schultz said in a joking manner. “We popped the low bar up one, which was fine. But I was doing giants, piked off my dismount, opened up and then smacked my toe on the low bar. It took like three minutes to get a bandage, and I was like, ‘Guys, I have three more things I need to do [in warm-ups], let’s hustle this up.'”

Barring the blood, Schultz did what all fans of the MCA Magic have seen all season long: execute at a high level. After sticking the landing, the judges flashed the score of 8.775, a sixth-place finish that teammates and coaches thought was deemed worthy of the sought-after state bid.

“It was a great routine,” MCA head coach Annie Post said. “She stuck the landing and did well.”

When the final presentation was displayed at the end of the competition, Schultz ultimately heard her name called as one of the individuals to qualify for state, lifting a weight off her shoulders knowing she did enough to move on.

“It was a relief,” Schultz said. “They called my name at sixth, and I said, ‘Thank goodness.’ It was a breath of fresh air learning that I at least made it on something.”

Second time is the charm

Schultz isn’t new to the level of competition and intensity seen at the state tournament. She made her debut as a freshman the year prior, earning the chance to show her skills on two apparatuses – bars and beam.

Schultz finished 29th on bars (8.1875) and 38th on the balance beam (8.3625). While she says the overall experience was positive, Schultz is aiming for even bigger heights this time around.

The wide-eyed look of Schultz is now gone. Last year’s run in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium laid a foundation of confidence for the underclassman, showing that she had what it took to compete against the biggest and best athletes in the state.

“Go big or go home,” Schultz said about her mindset going into the competition. “I am already there. There is no higher [level] I can get besides the podium.”

“Last year, I felt that I went with a good group of girls from my section. Most of them had been there before. They were there and knew what they were doing, so I just got to tag along. This year, we are going to do it again, but I am going to do even better than I did last year.”

Schultz and Post have spent the entire week preparing for this final routine of the 2025-2026 regular season. Rather than making drastic changes to her approach, the duo has focused on fine-tuning small details that should pay positive dividends going forward.

“It’s a lot of tweaking little things,” Post said. “Lillie’s been working bars hard. Over the past two days, she has been on the bars the entire time, and it’s been an hour and a half of practice. …I know she is going to do well at state. There’s no way she doesn’t.”

The Individual and All-Around portion of the girls’ gymnastics state meet begins this Saturday, Feb 21. Class AA is set to start at 11 a.m., while Class A begins around 6 p.m.