COLLEGEVILLE, PA. – A championship performance by Bryce Stoltz on the beam at the 2024 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) National Championships highlighted the efforts of five Winona State standouts in Collegeville, Pa. on Saturday, March 23.  

Bryce Stoltz won the balance beam with a score of 9.850, earning the 2024 NCGA national title in the event. The junior from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, came in just ahead of a trio of competitors who tied for second with a 9.825. Stoltz's national championship marked the second time in three years that a Winona State gymnast has taken top honors while competing against the nation's best. WSU's Kennedy O'Connor claimed a national title in the vault in 2022.

For Stoltz, the impressive beam score was among her four all-around results notched while competing on the campus at Ursinus College and Helfferich Hall Gymnasium. Stoltz earned an all-around score of 37.525, with a mark of 9.675 in the floor routine and a pair of 9.000 scores in the vault and bars, respectively.

Warrior teammate Taryn Sellner finished fifth for WSU in the floor exercise, registering a score of 9.850. Sellner tied Jay Ratkowski of UW-Oshkosh for fifth, while Titan's Mia Lucero won the event with a score of 9.900.

Other Winona State performances included Sellner's score of 9.625 on the balance beam and Kaylee Bateman's score of 9.575 on the uneven parallel bars. Bateman finished in the top 25 in the event (T-23rd), which was won by UW-Oshkosh's Emily Buffington with a 9.850.

Izzy Kropiwiec and Madysen Diskerud competed in the vault and registered identical 9.600 scores. Kropiwiec and Diskerud earned top-25 finishes in the event, which was won by SUNY Brookport's Maren Eramo, who tallied a 9.825.

Stoltz's 9.850 on the beam came close to registering a new WSU record in the event; former Warrior standout Marine Brys scored a 9.875 in 2001 to set the current record. Sellner's 9.850 also approached a Warrior All-time best mark, as Brook Hiestand set the current WSU record of 9.900.

For Winona State, the 2024 NCGA National Championships marked the third straight season in which WSU competed on the NCAA Division III top level under head coach Stephanie Geislinger.  With five competitors participating in this year's NCGA nationals, the 2024 squad qualified the largest number of WSU participants since 2016, when Winona State qualified as a team.