Warriors Athlete of Week: Warriors' Deason beaming after sections

Brenna Deason wore two faces Saturday, Feb. 16.

The first face was one of complete mental focus. That face helped produce the other one, which was of sheer joy as the Brainerd Warriors' eighth-grader topped the Section 8-2A podium for beam and floor and also advanced to her first state gymnastics tournament in the all-around after finishing second at Brainerd High School.

"Brenna has always been a focused gymnast," Warrior head coach Tessa Poorker said. "There have been some meets this year where she let them get to her, but she's so talented and she's been doing a lot of mental prep work and obviously, it's been helping.

"She originally wasn't on our roster to do all-around. I ended up making the decision right before the meet started and I'm glad that we did because she got her season-high, career-high, all-around score and to do that at a section meet with the intensity is just amazing. It says a lot about how mentally tough she is."

Deason said it was all about being confident and more importantly focused.

"I'm really blown away by what I accomplished," Deason said. "It was by far and away the best meet I've ever had. It was all mental for me. I'm glad I could get my mind in that state."

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Brenna Deason

• Sport: Gymnastics
• Events: All-arounder
• Year: Eighth-grader
• Age: 14
• Height: 5-foot-2
• Career highlight: Winning beam routine at Section 8-2A
• Other sports: Track and field, swimming and diving, softball
• Grade-point average: 4.0
• Favorite class: Science
• Favorite food: Watermelon
• Favorite movie: "Smokey and the Bandit"
• Favorite TV show: "The Good Doctor"
• Favorite website/app: Instagram
• Favorite restaurant: Prairie Bay
• Future plans: Would like to be a gymnastics coach and a massage therapist
• Favorite athlete: Natia Lukin
• Parents: Cary and Stacy Deason

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Deason scored a 36.55 on the all-around and it started with beam, which she won with a 9.62.

"Brenna was our fourth person up on beam and we had only one other stick before that so for her to go up and be in the zone was important," Poorker said. "She didn't have a single balance check. There was no doubt whatsoever. It was the cleanest balance beam routine I've ever seen, honestly, in my career. The judges didn't have much to deduct from."

The winning score was a career-best for Deason who said she was mentally ready.

"Beam was really nerve-wracking to start out with, but now I would say it's one of my favorite events besides floor," Deason said. "I was really confident. I have a lot of mental-prepping time before I go to beam. For me, it's mainly mental. A lot of it is physical, but I really like to get my mental prepping in for beam because that's really all it is. My body can do it. I just need to tell myself I know how to do it."

After Deason dominated beam, Brainerd moved to floor, where Deason thrilled the crowd.

"She has a Michael Jackson-themed routine that she just owns and she does it so well," Poorker said. "She's last up on our lineup and the whole crowd was watching her and she pulled them in. The judges loved it. I hope she has that routine for a while because it's just awesome."

It was awesome enough to score a first-place 9.525. Deason said the best part of her floor routine is she gets to tell a story.

"Michael Jackson is my favorite artist, my favorite singer and everything like that," Deason said. "I like the story that went behind the music. I like to put on a show for everyone. It kind of tells a story and so I decided to do the Michael Jackson music and I really like it. I can show off.

"I like dancing. It's one of my favorite things to do on my own time. It's something in Michael Jackson that brings something out of me. I'm really positive about it. It's something I don't need to work at. It just comes out of me."

Poorker said Deason did what she had to do on vault. Because of her all-around responsibilities, Deason didn't add any difficulty to her vault routine. She landed two solid efforts for a 9.15.

Then came bars. Poorker wasn't sure she wanted Deason to do them. The Warriors were a contender for the team title and Poorker contemplated using another eighth-grader in the spot. Poorker went with her intuition.

"My gut feeling just told me I needed to put her in on bars and she actually tied with Maddy Sedlachek for our highest bar score," Poorker said. "The bar scores were a little bit tough for us, but Brenna hit her handstand and she was first up for us so to start with an 8.25 was awesome."

Deason was honored to represent Brainerd on bars. She was thankful for her coaches' decision and thankful for her teammate for being supportive after the decision was made.

"I was really happy that she did that for me," Deason said. "It was something to be grateful for because my coach really believed in me and I'm just so thankful for my teammate. I have a supportive team and a supportive coach and it just really means a lot to me."

Deason said she'll take that same mental approach with her to the Class 2A State Individual Meet Saturday, Feb. 16, at the University of Minnesota.

"I'm going into the state meet as confident as I can," she said. "I can just do my best and that's all I can do."

Other notable performances

• Gina Wasniewski, Nordic skiing, won the Central Lakes Conference girls' classic title.

• Evan Storbakken, Nordic skiing, won the Central Lakes Conference boys' classic title.

• Matt Allord, floor hockey, finished with two goals and three assists against Mounds View.

• Owen Davis, boys basketball, finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists against St. Cloud Tech.

• Abby Pohlkamp, girls hockey, finished with four goals and two assists in three section wins.

• Sophie Robinson, girls hockey, finished with a goal and four assists in three section wins.

• Gabbie Smith, girls hockey, finished with two goals and three assists in three section wins.

• Sierra Hartung, floor hockey, finished with three goals against Maple Grove.

• Joey Sauer, boys basketball, finished with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists against Alexandria.