The 22 members of the UW-Stout women’s gymnastics team are ready to enjoy their ride to the national meet this week, even if it does involve a 16-hour bus trip.
The destination is Collegeville, Pa., for the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Division III tournament on Saturday, March 23. It has been their goal all season, one they reached after a clutch performance March 9 in the conference/regional meet.
UW-Stout will look to improve on last year’s third-place national finish. “There’s a different buzz in the air at nationals. This one you earned the right to compete at. We want to leave with no regrets, put our very best on the floor and see what happens,” said Coach KJ Wheeler, in her first year after three years as an assistant.
Junior Effie Ferguson is looking forward to seeing what she and her teammates can do. The six teams that qualified will go head to head at Ursinus College beginning at 2 p.m. For championship information and livestream links, go here.
“You work so hard for so long. It’s just really exciting to be able to show what you’re capable of doing at nationals. There’s still more in us. We can do more. This opportunity has motivated everyone on the team,” said Ferguson, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
The Blue Devils earned an at-large berth in the meet after scoring 190.775 in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Conference and NCGA regional held simultaneously at Hamline University in St. Paul. It was their third best score of the season. They took fourth place in the WIAC.
The score helped UW-Stout beat out Ithaca College of Ithaca, N.Y., by about one-tenth of a point to earn the final national berth, which was based on seasonal average score.
UW-Stout now has qualified as a team for three of the past four NCGA championships. Tournaments were canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19.
The Blue Devils were aware that they sat on the national meet bubble as they headed to the meet at Hamline. “We knew making the national meet was possible and that we had to perform well to qualify as a team. After our performance, I was optimistic and had an inkling we had made it,” Ferguson said.
One of the key performances for the Blue Devils was by Ferguson. She tied for first in balance beam at 9.775, tying her season high, and had a career best in the uneven bars at 9.7.
“She’s been grinding, and it all came together,” Wheeler said.
Ferguson cited the support of her teammates. “The team worked on a lot of positive mental reinforcement, and I really felt that. There were a lot of moments that will shape how I do in the future. It’s definitely something I’ll remember for a long time,” Ferguson said.
She will compete at nationals on the balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise. A studio art major, she enjoys the opportunity for creative expression in the floor exercise through the music she chooses. This year, she switched to music with heavier beats to add impact to her routine because she doesn’t perform with much facial expression.
“Gymnastics is a tough sport mentally and physically,” she said.
This will be Ferguson’s third national meet in three years. In her first year, 2022, she qualified individually on the balance beam and took second place, making All-American. Last year she helped the Blue Devils to their third-place finish.
Kiara Brown also hit a season high at the WIAC/regional meet, scoring 9.675 on the uneven bars. Brown is a senior from Whitewood, S.D., majoring in health, wellness and fitness.
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Of the 22 Blue Devil gymnasts, 17 likely will fill the 24 slots at the national meet. Each team is allowed six athletes in each of the four events. The events are vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
“We walk in as a team. From the outside, it looks like an individual sport, but it’s really a team sport. The team title is the pinnacle of the sport. We preach team first,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler is proud of how the team has remained focused all season on improving and keeping their goal of a national berth in front of them. Their score in the WIAC/regional meet was higher than their score in last year’s national meet.
“These impressive women are making this sport better every year. Division III gymnastics has never been this good,” Wheeler said. “I just love watching and being part of gymnastics.”
Along with Brown, seniors on the team are Genevieve Czaplewski, of Grand Island, Neb., majoring in applied social science; and Jensen DeJong, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, majoring in early childhood education.
Five high school gymnasts already have committed to the team for 2024-25, Wheeler said.
In June, Wheeler and members of the team will host two youth gymnastics camps. Learn more here.
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