Results
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse gymnastics team placed second at the 38th Annual Gershon/McLellan Invitational Friday night in Mitchell Hall. The Eagles finished with a team score of 186.975 while the United States Air Force Academy took the team title with 188.200. UW-Whitewater finished third at 182.500.
UWL finished with a score of 46.275 on the vault, 46.675 on the uneven parallel bars, 47.150 on the balance beam and 46.875 (season-high) on the floor exercise.
The Eagles'
Kacey Mortenson was second in the all-around (35.525) Friday night.
Jessica Ahrens tied for second on the balance beam (9.650).
In the individual events, UWL's
Jessica Ahrens and
Ally Blixt tied for second (9.650) on balance beam with
Olivia Opheim finishing fourth (9.625).
Brittany Gutzkow,
Sam Weyker and
Emma Grant tied for third (9.450) on floor exercise.
Blixt also tied for fourth (9.375) on the vault while
Megan Hawkins tied for sixth (9.350).
Molly Lyngaas and
Brooke Kachinsky tied for sixth (9.425) on uneven parallel bars.
The Gershon half of the name honors
Ernest Gershon, a former UWL faculty member and men's gymnastics coach. Gershon joined the UWL teaching staff in 1946 and coached the first men's gymnastics team in 1948. He coached until 1966 and retired from teaching in 1982. Gershon was inducted into the UWL Athletic Wall of Fame in 2015.
The McLellan name was added to the title in 1998 in honor of
Mary McLellan, a former coach and staff member in the college of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at UWL. She was a pioneer in the growth of women's athletics at UWL. McLellan coached women's gymnastics for seven seasons before it became an official varsity sport. She was also the first varsity volleyball coach at UWL.
UWL returns to action Friday, February 8 hosting UW-Oshkosh at 6:30 p.m.
