Ashley Erickson performs on the floor exercise.
Therese Gay finishes a strong routine on the uneven bars.
The Gustavus women’s gymnastics team opened its 2005 home schedule with a 177.175-171.825 loss to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday night. Senior Therese Gay led the Gusties with a first place finish in the floor exercise with a score of 9.20. UW-La Crosse was led by junior Jenna Houle who finished first on vault (9.250) and first on the balance beam (9.325). Gustavus is now 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), while UW-La Crosse is 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the WIAC.
Gustavus posted scores of 44.50 on the vault, 40.525 on the uneven bars, 41.80 on the balance beam and 45.00 on the floor exercise. Danielle Berg was the Gusties top scorer on the vault with a total of 9.025, while Amanda Parker posted the team’s top score on the bars (8.80), Bethany Peterson on the balance beam (8.75) and Therese Gay on the floor exercise (9.20).
The dual meet was the first for Gustavus as a member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Gusties joined the WIAC this year along with fellow Minnesota institutions Hamline and Winona State. The five Wisconsin institutions the Minnesota schools are joining include UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh.