Sam Opsahl led the Gusties with a first place finish on the vault at UW-Stout Invite.
Menomonie, Wis. – The Gustavus Adolphus gymnastics team turned in a season-best score of 173.900 to place third at the 12th Annual John Zuerlein Invitational held at the Johnson Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stout on Friday night. Winona State University won the meet with a score of 182.175, while host UW-Stout placed second with a 181.075.
The Gusties recorded individual event scores of 45.850 on the vault, 44.300 on the floor exercise, 43.625 on the beam, and 40.125 on the uneven parallel bars. The squad’s score on the vault is a season-best.
Senior Samantha Opsahl (Forest Lake, Minn.) was Gustavus’ top performer of the meet, recording the team’s first individual event first place finish of the season. Opsahl scored a season-best 9.450 on the balance beam to take the top spot on the podium, edging out second place finisher Brittany DeZiel of UW-Stout who scored a 9.400. Opsahl’s beam routine tonight was her best since scoring a 9.475 on Feb. 3, 2012 at the Gershon/McLellan Invitational. Along with her first place mark, the senior also placed fourth on the floor exercise with a score of 9.200.
Fellow senior Amanda Christensen (Sr. Albany, Minn.) also finished on the podium, taking third place on the beam with a 9.175.
Gustavus’ top performer on the vault was Kacy Lorber (Jr., Ashland, Wis.) who placed seventh with a 9.300. Bailey Zeinert (Sr., Oshkosh, Wis.) was the team’s top bars competitor, finishing seventh after an 8.800 score. Jamie Ries (Monticello, Minn.) rounded out the top Gustie finishers with a seventh place mark on the floor (9.150).
Brittany DeZiel of UW-Stout was crowned all-around champion after scoring a 37.525. DeZiel was the champion of the bars (9.250) and floor (9.425). Katherine Prouty of UW-Stout rounded out the events with a first place finish on the vault (9.575).
Zeinert (34.700), Ries (34.150), and Paige Dieleman (Jr., Washington, Iowa) (33.425) all competed in the all-around completion for the Gusties.
The Gustavus gymnastics team will be back to action on Sunday, Feb. 3 in a dual meet against Winona State set to take place at 1:00 p.m. in Winona, Minn.
Great job on the season best girls!