Feb. 17—MITCHELL — The all-around podium Saturday night at the Class AA state gymnastics meet made for a meaningful picture.

It was Katelyn Maeschen, Kyanna Gropper and Olivia Prunty on the top three steps, in places 1-2-3.

That's how it looked in a number of the pictures Mitchell coach Audra Rew has of those three as young gymnasts in the youth-level MEGA Gymnastics program growing up, too.

"Katelyn grew up with Olivia and Kyanna. I've got pictures of them, probably more pictures of them together than I do apart," Rew said. "I remember all of the camps that we went to and Katelyn has always been that spark plug. The three of them really have totally different personalities that have been really great for gymnastics."

Time passed and Maeschen moved to Harrisburg before high school. So Maeschen was in Tiger maroon Saturday, while Gropper and Prunty competed in their final Kernel competition as seniors in the Class AA meet, finishing 1-2-3.

But that was a special moment for both gymnast and coach all of these years later, something not lost on Maeschen, the Class AA all-around champion who swept the event titles in the state competition.

"It's definitely a full circle moment for sure to know that where I started is where I ended," Maeschen said. "Gymnastics in Mitchell has been very good to me in my career. I think it's extra special doing it that way."

Rew remembers the first choreographed floor routine she did with Maeschen, which was when she was seven and it was to the tune of "Singin' in the Rain."

"I have her very first floor routine on video. ... Oh my gosh, it was the cutest routine," Rew said. "She just has that smile and turns on the charm and it's just amazing. That's how she always has been, and it's just fun to watch her grow up."

In the high school competition over two days, Maeschen was fierce as well. She led Harrisburg to a second consecutive title over the Kernels in the team competition and then won the all-around title with a score of 39.183 points. That included a vault score of 9.667, bars of 9.750, floor of 9.867 and a balance beam title of 9.900.

The last of those came in the final rotation and beat out Gropper's excellent routine moments before that scored 9.800 points, a career-best mark, denying her former youth teammate a state championship in the event. Maeschen was just that good.

Maeschen now has nine all-time individual titles, a feat only five Class AA gymnasts have done. She's the first to go five-for-five on Class AA individual titles in a state meet since current Mitchell assistant coach Amelia (Rew) Endres did it in 2009.

In that case, it would be easy to be bitter or jealous about a former teammate. That's not how Rew and the Kernels were. And that's not how the sport of gymnastics operates, either.

"I gave it my best and Katelyn did, too," Gropper said afterward. "That's all you can really ask for."

The sport is too hard and too demanding to carry that level of jealousy. There's shared appreciation from all of these years of competing alongside each other and against each other. And for so many of them, including nearly every senior on Saturday, high school gymnastics is the end of the line.

Even Maeschen, the best overall gymnast in the state, will give up gymnastics. She's attending Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where she plans to jump for the Red Raiders' track and field team.

Her first event of the day Saturday was the floor routine, which is one of Maeschen's best events but not necessarily her favorite, she said. But because gymnasts get to style the music and moves, it's where personality is expressed the most in the sport. That frequently make it an emotional moment for all seniors at the state meet, performing those routines for the final time.

Even as an eventual state title routine, Maeschen had tears flowing before it was over.

"There was no next time," she said when she was done. "It was just about going out and putting it all out there and enjoying every last minute with my teammates. ... The tears definitely were coming out by the end."

After the meet, there were more snapshots taken with gymnasts for opposing teams and congratulations were shared between family members of rival gymnasts. The gymnastics community in South Dakota is small and there's plenty of room to root for others in addition to your own team.

For those looking for good sportsmanship among high school athletes, Mitchell and Harrisburg gymnasts with long-rooted connections were an example once again.

The proof is right there in the photos, both past and present.