Kirstan Keppen excels in gymnastics
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AWARD-WINNING GYMNAST — Kirstan Keppen (left) of Turtle Lake and her coach Dianne Dietrich stand behind the trophies that Keppen has won in recent gymnastic championships. Keppen competes for Premier Complex Gymnastics of Clear Lake and is the granddaughter of Fred and Illa Nitchey of Glenwood City. —photo submitted
An area athlete with local ties recently completed a superb gymnastics season.
Kirstan Jo Keppen, the granddaughter of Fred and Illa Nitchey of Glenwood City, is a senior at Turtle Lake High School and has been performing gymnastics since an early age.
18-year-old Keppen recently took part in team and individual competitions over the past two weekends taking several top honors and setting some personal records.
Keppen competes for Premier Complex Gymnastics of Clear Lake and has been coached by Dianne Dietrich since the age of two.
Competing in the Division 1 Team Championships in Minnetonka, MN on Saturday, March 20, Kirstan made the podium in all events setting a personal record in the vault with a score of 9.675 to earn first place. She also grabbed first place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.575. In the bars, Keppen scored an 8.9 to take fifth and had a 9.0 on the beam to place sixth. Keppen finished second in the All-Around competition with a combined score of 37.15.
That helped the team from Premier finish in third place with a tally of 141.5 behind the winning team of K&G from Owatonna and runner-up KidSport from Winona.
“Her placings at the team championship earned her a spot in the All-Around at the Individual Championships,” said Kirstan’s mother Jolene Nitchey-Keppen.
“The meet was a huge honor as only 24 for each age group qualify in each event,” Nitchey-Keppen added.
The past Saturday, March 16, Keppen competed in the Midwest Amateur Gymnastics Association (MAGA) Individual Gymnastics Championships which were held in New Prague, MN.
In that “Showcase of the Best”, Kirstan Keppen had another outstanding day as she scored a pair of firsts and three, second-place finished and set two personal records in the process.
Keppen finished second in the All-Around competition and set a new personal record with a score of 37.575. She took first in the vault with a second straight personal best in as many weeks scoring a 9.75. She added another win in the beam with a score of 9.425. Keppen also had second-place finishes in the bars (9.0) and floor exercise (9.4).
Quite a finish for a young lady with drive and talent.