Kylie Bridenhagen/Winonan

The Winona State University women’s gymnastics team is looking forward to a successful 2012-2013 season. Losing just two seniors from the previous season—Samantha Williams and Chelsea Lindeman—the team welcomes seven fresh faces.

New to the team this year are Olivia Catellino, Jade Donaldson, Emily Goldeman, Brooke Hiestand, Cassandra Mello, Rebecca Schneider, and Kelsey Veldez. Some are relatively close to home—from Minnesota or Wisconsin—but others are from as far away as Colorado or Indiana.

All of the freshman will be competing in the all-around, which consists of four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

“The team is very young with so many freshman and sophomores, but they are all very talented and strong,” said Hiestand. “We should have a great season.”

Hiestand did club gymnastics back at home. “College gymnastics is more about the team. Club, which was also about team, was more about how the individual preformed,” she said.

Returning for their last seasons as seniors, are Warriors Anna Gleason, Laura Fabian, Kimberly Mikse, and Samantha Smith. All but Fabian, who does vault and floor, contribute there all around scores to the overall team score.

Some other big names to watch out for this season are sophomores, Brooke Baures and Sabrina Hoover, and juniors, Katie Seehusen and Jena Jondahl. These girls were part of the seven-member group that qualified to compete at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association national meet last season.

Beckie Rolbiecki, is starting her eighth season as head coach for the Warrior gymnastics team. She took over the role as head coach in 2005, and won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year.

Before leading the team, she was the assistant coach for six years, and prior to that, she was the head coach of the Winona Senior High School gymnastics team for 18 years. Last year, seven of her gymnasts qualified to the NCGA national meet, where they competed for individual event titles.

The gymnasts start their seasons each year in mid-January.

Last year, the Warriors started off strong finishing second to UW-Eau Claire, at the first meet of the season. They scored 178.000 as a team. Jondahl scored an impressive 9.55 on her first season’s vault to take home the individual event title.

At the first home meet of the year, Winona State University finished second in the triangular meet; they scored second to UW-Stout (178.975) with a team-totaled score of 177.050.   Jondahl again took home the vault title with a 9.525. Baures placed first on beam with a 9.350.  On January 31st, Jondahl won her first all around title of the season and also claimed the number one vault and beam spots, with a 9.475 and 9.225.

At the Gershon/McLellan Invitational, the Warriors were second among five teams with a season high team score of 181.600. At the Best of Minnesota meet, they placed in second with a 182.000. In early February, they were second at the Gustavus Quadrangular with a 179.550.

At their last regular season meet, the Warriors beat Hamline 179.625-179.375. Gleason won bars with a 9.500 and Seehusen won vault with a 9.275.

The team then scored a 181.300 at the WIAC Championships. They were just two points shy of earning a trip to nationals as a team. Jondahl qualified in the all around, while Fabian and Seehusen qualified on vault. Gleason was the sole member to qualify on bars. Hoover and Baures made it on beam, and Lindeman made it for floor.

At the NCGA National Championship meet, Gleason earned All-American honors after placing 7th on vault. Lindeman also made it to the event finals, where she placed 14th overall on floor.

The Warriors begin their 2012-2013 season at a duel conference meet against UW-Oshkosh on January 11, 2013. They will have four home meets in Winona, the first of which is on January 15, 2013, against UW-La Crosse.

Contact Kylie at [email protected]