MacKenzie Kush/ Winonan
The Winona State University gymnastics team finished fourth in the WIAC Championship at Hamline University on Sunday, March 15.
Winona State came away with a total score of 187.675, while first place Univeristy of Wisconsin-Whitewater scored 191.750.
No Winona State gymnast finished in the top-six of any event, but the team score was the sixth best team score in the history of their program.
Winona State scored big on the vault, with juniors Jade Donaldson and Emily Goldeman each scoring 9.525. Junior Brooke Hiestand and sophomore Joanna Reale recorded scores of 9.400.
The Warriors did best on the uneven bars with a score of 47.575, beating the previous record of 47.400. Freshman Katie Carling scored the highest with a personal-best of 9.625, while junior Olivia Cattelino and freshman Kathryn Pipp each scored 9.575. In their last performance as Warriors, senior Danielle Thenell recorded a 9.450 and senior Melanee Pfautz scored 9.350 on the bars.
Coach Beckie Rolbiecki said, “Both Mel Pfautz and Danni Thenell have given so much to this team and will be greatly missed.”
Donaldson scored strongly on the floor exercise with a team-best score of 9.650, with freshman Jessica Gabriel and Pipp scoring 9.575. Carling added a 9.550 and Peterson a 9.525 on the floor exercise.
Hiestand was the highlight for Winona State on the beam, scoring 9.325. Pipp scored a 9.175 and Carling recorded a 9.100. Donaldson finished seventh All-Around with a score of 36.875.
Rolbiecki said, “I was incredibly proud of my team’s performance at the WIAC Regional Tournament. The girls gave it their all, and our routines were exceptional. But, it is painful to lose the opportunity for the team to go to Nationals by a tenth and a half points.”
When the Warriors received a random draw that gave them beam as their last event Rolbiecki said she knew it would be a challenge for the young team.
“I would have preferred to have any other event to finish up on rather than four inches of beam to work with,” Rolbiecki said.
The Warriors fell short of qualifying as a team for Nationals, but Donaldson, Goldeman and Pipp are the team’s three qualifiers for Nationals.
Rolbiecki said, “Our three qualifiers for Nationals are very talented gymnasts and will represent us well.”
Donaldson will represent Winona State at Nationals in the All-Around, and she is looking to improve on her fifth place finish in All-Around that she earned last year.
Goldeman is a newcomer to the Nationals event, and she will be competing on vault.
Rolbiecki said, “Her vault this season has been consistent and one of our high scoring vaults all season. I am excited for her as a junior to make it to Nationals for the first time.”
Pipp qualified for Nationals on the bars.
“She has broken the schools individual bar record this year with a 9.675 score, and I expect her to do very well at Nationals,” Rolbiecki said.
Pipp said, “I thought regionals went very well for me. I got a new personal best on floor, stuck my series on beam that I had been struggling with in the past couple meets and made a bar routine good enough to qualify for nationals on the uneven bars. As nationals gets closer, I’m really looking forward to fine-tuning my bar routine so I can show it off to the best of my ability.”
Pipp said she is looking forward to experiencing Nationals with Goldeman and Donaldson and enjoying the weekend doing the sport they love together.
“As this season comes to a close, I’m so proud of everything this team has accomplished. We broke several records and had a great time doing it,” Pipp said.
“We really connected as a team and had a great support system for one another throughout the season. It was cool to see how everyone changed over the season and become more confident as a person and as an athlete.”
The Warriors will compete in the NCGA Nationals in La Crosse, Wisc. on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28.
