ESCANABA — Freshman Rayne Martin shined for the Escanaba gymnastics as they topped Bark River-Harris 135.1-129.975 in a dual meet featuring season-best scores for both teams here Thursday night.

Martin, who was runner-up to BR-H’s Lucy Baumgartner in the all-around standings, won balance beam with 9.4 points and floor exercise at 9.2, both personal bests.

“My confidence has come a long way,” Martin said. “Early in the season I was a little nervous. This is a big step up from junior high. Early in the season my scores were nowhere close to nine. I made a few mistakes but cleaned them up the best I could.”

Baumgartner scored 36.075 points in all-around. Martin tallied 35.25 and BR-H’s Maggie Karl placed third at 34.6.

The senior from Iron Mountain, who competes at BR-H through a co-op venture, won vault at 9.1 and the uneven bars (8.9).

“I’m happy with that one,” Baumgartner said of her winning score in vault. “I was a little wobbly on the beam. My bars went real well. My routines have gotten better over time. I tried to get as much practice as I could during the off-season and my parents have been real supportive.

Baumgartner, who plans to continue her education at Northern Michigan University, was runner-up on beam (9.1) and third on floor (8.975).

Martin placed third on vault (8.85) and fourth on bars (7.8) in Esky’s lone home meet this season.

Esky junior Sophie Hill placed fourth in all-around (34.6) and second on vault (8.9) and bars (8.85) and fourth on floor (8.85).

“I was a little nervous, but everything went good,” she said. “I think this will give me some momentum for regionals. Getting a PR (personal record) on bars was exciting. I’ve been practicing at Triple A (Gymnastics) which is very helpful. I’m usually there everyday in the summer and get to work on stuff.”

Both coaches were naturally happy with their team scores.

“They (Broncos) have a nice team,” Esky coach Riley Martin said. “They’re good competition for us. Sophie had some scores that were fantastic and Rayne had her all-time best on floor. We hope to keep the positive momentum going into the regionals.”

BR-H coach Alex Zelenak says it’s a matter of going back to the basics.

“I think it comes down to execution,” she added. “Gymnastics has come a long way up here. Going downstate helps. I think that motivates the girls. They want to do the same stuff as the girls do down there. There’s a lot of D-1 and D-2 competition downstate.

“We had a real good night. Lucy is an awesome leader. The girls look up to her. We had girls who hadn’t placed before, get it done tonight.”

Upper Peninsula teams will head to Rockford for Saturday’s regional meet at Rockford.

All-around — 1, Baumgartner, BR-H, 36.075; 2, Martin, E, 35.25; 3, Karl, BR-H, 34.6; 4, Hill, E, 34.5; 5, Turchin, E, 32.75.

Balance beam — 1, Martin, E, 9.4; 2, Baumgartner, BR-H, 9.1; 3, Turchin, E, 8.7; 4, Jorasz, BR-H, 8.5; 5, Karl, 8.2.

Floor exercise — 1, Martin, E, 9.2; 2, Karl, BR-H, 9.1; 3, Baumgartner, BR-H, 8.975; 4, Hill, E, 8.85; 5, Benetti, E, 8.8.

Vault — 1, Baumgartner, BR-H, 9.1; 2, Hill, E, 8.9; 3, Martin, E, 8.85; 4, Young, E, 8.8; 5, Karl, BR-H, 8.6.

Uneven bars — 1, Baumgartner, BR-H, 8.9; 2, Hill, E, 8.85; 3, Karl, BR-H, 8.7; 4, Martin, E, 7.8; 5, Benetti, E, 7.7.