La Crosse, Wis. – The Gustavus Adolphus gymnastics team posted a score of 175.100 to finish in fourth place at the 34th Annual Gershon/McLellan Invitational held on Friday night at Mitchell Hall. Host UW-La Crosse won the four-team meet with a score of 186.425, Winona State University finished second with a 184.250, and UW-Stout rounded out the field in third with a 177.675.
Gustavus recorded individual event scores of 45.500 on the vault, 44.800 on the uneven parallel bars, 41.175 on the balance beam, and 46.200 on the floor exercise.
Junior Rachel Thiner (Sioux Falls, S.D.) turned in Gustavus’s top performance of the meet with a third place finish on the beam after a 9.350 routine. Thiner’s score on the beam this evening tops her previous season-best of 9.050 recorded against Hamline on Jan. 16. She also added an eighth place finish on the floor with a score of 9.275.
Alexandra Kopp (So., Wayzata, Minn.) competed in the all-around where she scored a season-best 36.375 in a third place effort. Kopp tallied individual event scores of 9.350 on the vault (8th), 8.750 on the bars (17th), 9.050 on the beam (9th), and 9.225 on the floor (11th). With a 9.050 on the beam, Kopp scored over a 9.00 for the first time this season and set a new personal-best in the process.
Taking the all-around title with a score of 37.800 was Amy Enright of UW-La Crosse. Event winners included Kaylee Jondahl (UW-Stout) on the vault with a 9.650, Carly Kiesow (UW-La Crosse) on the bars with a 9.625, Rachel Riesterer (UW-La Crosse) and Samantha Wiekamp (UW-La Crosse) on the beam 9.400s, and Elsa Spitzmueller (UW-La Crosse) and Kelsi Vomacka (UW-La Crosse) on the floor with a 9.550s.
The Gustavus gymnastics team will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 7 when it hosts UW-Whitewater in a dual at 1:00 p.m. in the Sponberg Gymnastics Studio.