Whitewater, Wis. - The Winona State University women's gymnastics team took to the floor in the first time in almost a year, competing in a dual meet at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday, Feb. 27.
Winona State scored 177.425 as a team, while the Warhawks scored 165.800.
Interim head coach
Aixa Evenson said, " "I think it's important to always want more out of a performance and although we have areas we can clearly identify for that, overall we had significant growth both as individuals and as a squad. We competed every freshman on our team and it's quite rare to do so. Gymnastics is subjective, but if we can continue to decrease the margin of error for a judge to score, then we've done our job.."
For Winona State,
Kaitlyn West claimed the top Warrior score in the vault at 9.350 in a tie for third, while
Hailey Bryant also took a third place spot in the uneven parallel bars, registering a 9.025. West also was the top WSU competitor in the balance beam, scoring a 9.275.
Evenson also noted," This first meet marks our first win after an unpredictable preseason and it's only made us more hungry! Aside from the freshman squad and
Izzy Kropiwiec being the only all around competitor,
Shelsea Zehr and
Taryn Sellner put up huge scores for us on floor, and Kate West has finally returned to our lineup after battling significant injuries in previous years. All in all, we're going places and we're just getting started."
Kropiwiec scored a 33.925 on the all-around for Winona State.
Shelsea Zehr and
Taryn Sellner finished with 9.500 and 9.300 in the floor exercise for WSU, the top two Warrior scores in that event.
Winona State will next compete on Friday, March 12, when they host the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse in the first home meet of the year. The Warriors will welcome the Eagles to McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court, starting at 5pm.
For the most up to date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit: www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and @WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words: Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics.
Media Contact: Pete Watkins, Director of Athletic Communications | Ph: 507.457.5577 | Email: pwatkins@winona.edu
