St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus gymnastics team suffered a 180.650-167.150 defeat to Winona State University in its home-opener on Tuesday night at the Sponberg Gymnastics Studio.
The Gusties turned in season-best scores on both the vault and the floor in the first meet on their home mats. Gustavus finished with individual event scores of 44.775 on the vault, 39.250 on the uneven parallel bars, 40.800 on the balance beam, and 42.325 on the floor exercise.
Winona State topped Gustavus in each event, posting scores of 45.825 on the vault, 43.650 on the bars, 44.825 on the beam, and 46.350 on the floor.
Senior Paige Dieleman (Washington, Iowa) and first-year Lauren Kershner (Maine, Ill.) turned in Gustavus’s top performances of the meet. Dieleman scored a 9.125 on the vault to finish in fourth place, and while Kershner recorded an 8.600 on the beam to also place fourth. Kershner also came in fifth on the bars with a score of 8.450.
Senior Jamie Ries (Monticello, Minn.) and Dieleman both competed in the all-around, finishing behind all-around winner Jade Donaldson of Winona State who scored a 36.350. Ries placed behind Donaldson with a score of 33.800 with her top finishes coming on the vault (9.050) and bars (8.100) where she came in fifth and sixth, respectively. She also came in eighth on the beam (8.200) and ninth on the floor (8.450). To go along with her fourth place mark on the vault, Dieleman scored a 32.550 in the all-around and finished ninth on the bars (7.725), 10th on the beam (8.000), and 11th on the floor (7.700).
Junior Kayln Botzet (Maple Grove, Minn.) also cracked the top five by finishing fifth on the floor with a 9.075.
Winona State’s Jade Donaldson earned the all-around title with first place finishes on the vault (9.450) and floor (9.550). Her teammates Olivia Catellino and Brooke Baures took gold in the other two events, as Catellino won the bars (9.100) and Baures won the beam (9.575).
The Gustavus gymnastics team will be back in action on Sunday, Jan. 19 when it travels to St. Paul to compete in the Hamline Triangular against the Pipers and Warhawks of UW-Whitewater.