Gershon/McLellan Invitational Results
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse team captured its seventh straight Gershon/McLellan Invitational Friday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles won their 16th Gershon/McLellan title in school history with a team score of 187.700. Winona State University (Minn.) placed second with a score of 185.625 while UW-Eau Claire was third at 183.750 in the 35th Annual Gershon/McLellan Invitational.
UWL scored 46.275 on the vault, 47.450 on the uneven parallel bars, 47.100 on the balance beam and 46.875 on the floor exercise.
"Tonight was a real step forward on the vault," said UWL head coach
Barbara Gibson. "The bars were fabulous tonight, we hit eight-of-eight sets (including two exhibitions). I like how we are attacking the beam for early February, but we are still struggling on the floor. We have some work to do on the floor, but we're making progress."
The Eagles'
Samantha Wiekamp captured the all-around (36.950) Friday, the eighth gymnast in school history to win the all-around. She joins
Kim MacKrille (1988, 1989),
Becky McDonnell (2000),
Kasey Clausen (2005),
Erin Sommer (2008),
Christa Booman (2011),
Sheree Romesburg (2013) and
Amy Enright (2015). Wiekamp also tied for fifth on the vault (9.275) and finished eighth on the uneven parallel bars (9.350) Friday. "Samantha has been such a presence this year," said Gibson. "She has more difficulty on the vault and has really made great strides this year."
UWL's
Dani Barmore was second (36.625) in Friday's all-around. She also captured the balance beam (9.675), the seventh straight season a UWL gymnast has won the event. Barmore was fourth on the uneven parallel bars (9.500) and tied for fifth on the vault (9.275). "Dani shows a lot of competitive poise for a freshman," said Gibson. "She is gaining more and more confidence in this environment. Dani is one of the really focused individuals in the gym and she's a really steady performer everyday. We're seeing consistency in practice and it's starting to carryover in competition."
Lauren Wilson won the uneven parallel bars (9.625) Friday night while
Elsa Spitzmueller won her second straight floor exercise crown (9.575). UWL has won the floor exercise the last five seasons. "Lauren is really coming into her own and that was Elsa's second floor routine of the year," said Gibson.
Other top finishers included Enright second in the uneven parallel bars (9.600) and third on the floor exercise (9.500). The Eagles'
Leah Spankowski tied for fourth on the balance beam (9.575) and finished seventh on the vault (9.250) while
Savana Kettner was fourth on the floor exercise (9.475) and seventh on the balance beam (9.475).
Kari Willett tied for seventh on the vault (9.250) and
Carly Kiesow was seventh on the uneven parallel bars (9.375).
UWL returns to action Friday, February 12 hosting Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) at 6:30 p.m.
