Welcome back to Midwest collegiate gymnastics! Perennial conference dark horse Western Michigan hosts Wilberforce in the programs’ fourth all-time matchup, further cementing the Broncos as one of the Bulldogs’ most frequent opponents. Both teams enter the season with sizable freshman classes—eight newcomers apiece—several of whom could factor into all-around lineups as the year unfolds. For Wilberforce, keep an eye on Madison Kelly as a potential breakout among the rookies, while Isabella Ciolfi and Casey Mooney could fill a similar role for the Broncos.
Each squad is also adjusting to the loss of its top contributor from 2025—Kiora Peart-Williams for Wilberforce and Cassie St. Clair for Western Michigan—making this meet an early opportunity to see who steps up to fill that leadership void. For the host Broncos, expect a mix of specialists to feature prominently, particularly Amy Robins on bars and Linda Uro on beam, both of whom were recruited with those events in mind.
Western Michigan is streaming today’s meet via YouTube, and will have scoring through StatsBroadcast.
Rotation 1: Western Michigan VT, Wilberforce UB
And we’re off! Starting the afternoon with a land acknowledgement from Western Michigan’s announcer. In true Bronco fashion, our home team today will be showing two exhibitions on each event.
Milton (WMU): laser focused in her run. very high Y full, hops back. 9.675
Caines (WU): stream showed in time for a double tuck dismount, with a big lunge forward out. 8.400.
Cooper (WMU): a little short onto the table, but blocks her full around easily and takes a hop. 9.650.
Johnson (WU): long wait during a judges conference. short first handstand and goes again, gets over on her second for the pirouette. orphan straddle back from the high bar, then takes a second rythym break in the toe shoot up and falls on her toe front tuck dismount. BIG effort after an unusually long wait. 6.450
Mooney (WMU): Y full, bent legs onto the table ultimately affected her blocking height, but controls the landing to a small adjustment. 9.775.
Ma. Kelly (WU): up and over on her first handstand. remounts for a clean toe on to Maloney Pak series, then a break and off again. sole circle and a jump to the high bar, to a very controlled double tuck. 7.200
Gelesko (WMU): sky high in her fhs front tuck half! the distance she gets forces the camera to move to see her landing, and she’s still able to take a step back out of it. 9.775.
Sy. Smith (WU): toe on Maloney Pak connects, but swings the Pak tentatively. no breaks in her routine, through to a layout double twist dismount. Much needed hit for the Bulldogs. 9.425
Kelley (WMU): efficient Y full, a little piked and looked like it was going for the stick then takes a step back. 9.700
Ciolfi (WMU): best Y full of the pack, flared out and still able to take a hop back. 9.725
Webster (WMU): exhibition — twisting her Y full FAST. with open shoulders in her block she can contend for a back end lineup spot. 9.525
King (WMU): exhibition — another Y full that with more exhibition reps can be a reliable lineup option. 9.700
AFTER ONE: Western Michigan 48.675, Wilberforce 31.475
The Broncos started their home campaign about as well as they could have planned to, and were able to show off depth from upperclassmen, underclassmen, and transfers alike. For them to be this close to a 49.000 in week one with no sticks or 10.0 start values bodes well for the year. While the Bulldogs weren’t able to field five routines on bars today, we did get glimpses into confident elements that will hopefully translate into routines.
Rotation 2: Wilberforce VT, Western Michigan UB
Clements (WU): tsuk tuck with a step back, clean but takes a hit on the start value. 9.150
Garvey (WMU): stream starts just to announce her routine is done. on the replay, we see her astronomically high Tkatchev and a straddle back that snaps to handstand, then a nearly stuck double layout. 9.700
Gouldbourne (WU): Y layout with a step back. 9.300
Mooney (WMU): toe hs to Ray, and then a shootover right to vertical. closes it out with her clear hip to FTDT and some high fives. 9.750
Caines (WU): a second Y full, straighter in the air but lands too short to avoid the step forward. 9.350
Samuelson (WMU): swings calm for her blind half to Jaeger, and catches close but keeps her momentum for her pak. short handstand to her signature clean double layout. 9.625
Sy. Smith (WU): Y layout number three for the Bulldogs, and it’s higher than the last two, but lacks the extension we saw earlier in the lineup. 9.275
Parks (WMU): MAC debut for the former Ohio State bars specialist. She starts with a textbook Maloney Pak series, and gets the perfect height and distance to be comfortable with both. Nearly stuck DLO caps of her first routine as a Bronco. 9.725
King (WMU): blind half and gets too far for her Jaeger to catch. remounts for a clean shoot to hs, then cranks her giants for another nearly stuck DLO. 8.900, as the Jaeger didn’t count for start value.
Korfhage (WMU): all smiles waiting for the green flag. clear hip half to Jaeger, then nails her shoot hs. she finishes her incredibly efficient routine with a clear hip to toe front pike half and holds her landing! Way to right the course in a pressure situation. 9.775 will win the event outright.
Kelly (WMU): exhibition — another first routine as a Bronco for the former NIU all arounder. she hits a clean blind full to Geinger, then takes a form break catching her shoot hs but avoids the fall successfully. Back up to the high bar and NAILS a FTDLO. 9.600, and serious lineup potential.
Robins (WMU): exhibition — big smiles from the freshman! calm through her Maloney and shoot hs, though it’s hard to see the angles properly from the stream’s angle. She then carries her momentum through to her stalder to double tuck. 9.625, for only her second competitive bar routine since Spring 2024.
AFTER TWO: Western Michigan 97.250, Wilberforce 68.550
More or less a continuation of what we saw in the first rotation from the judges and athletes alike. Wilberforce putting up another rotation of four stops us from getting an accurate read on the state of their depth, but for now we’re seeing what can grow into up-to-level gymnastics. Western’s bars is similar to their vault situation, with a clear few at the front and then an absolute battle for fourth through eighth in the depth chart.
Rotation 3: Western Michigan BB, Wilberforce FX
Garvey (WMU): hits her opening bhs loso. small hesitation in her switch to switch half, and then rocks her beat jump to loso. stuck gainer full and a sea of high fives for the anchor. 9.800
Clements (WU): opened with a layout. the stream is still playing its own music rather than floor’s, so it’s that much harder to get a read on Wilberforce. punch front full as a second pass. 7.475
Ciolfi (WMU): easily through her wolf turn, and then too energetic in her front toss to beat jump works hard to reign in the beat jump and keep it on the beam. bhs loso gets back under control. beat to switch side hits, as does her roundoff 1.5. make that two in a row for beam! 9.725
Caines (WU): routine two of me asking for floor music please. the routine coverage starts before her second pass, which for today is two bounding front layouts. nearly OOB prepping for pass three, and ends up taking the fall on an undercooked double tuck. 7.825
Mooney (WMU): bhs loso with a check. cat leap to switch side, right leg a little lower than left. recovers with a front toss to straddle 1/4, and a stuck gainer full. 9.775
Korfhage (WMU): bhs bhs then off before she can loso. remounts to do her series again, and gets credit but falls again. split to split 3/4 hits easily, and carries her momentum to a nearly stuck front layout full dismount. 8.150
Ma. Kelly (WU): joining partway through (again with no music) for a double pike. long pause before second pass, but manages to keep the double tuck on her feet after a fight. 8.650
Uro (WMU): squeaky clean through her front aerial to bhs series, and her connected switch leaps to split jump. she brings a calm to beam we rarely see from freshmen, and uses it for her aerial and a roundoff 1.5 to a small hop as the only visible deduction. wow! high stakes for her debut, and manages it like a seasoned vet. 9.775
Cook (WU): floor music is here! roundoff 1.5 to layout that JUST stays in after a fight. front lay front full, this time with plenty of room to spare. routine cuts to her team dancing instead of her leap series, and then goes back in time for an ending pose. 9.2
Samuelson (WMU): bhs loso, and a small check on her turn shortly after. easily through her front aerial to beat jump, and split to ring jump series. stuck front full to close the rotation. 9.825
Kelly (WMU): exhibition — bhs loso hits, but will take a built in deduction for closed shoulders. hits her standing loso. triple series with two switch leaps and a split jump, and then a small step forward on an otherwise clean roundoff 1.5.
M. Sabin (WMU): exhibition — clean in flight for her bhs loso, takes a check after. clean jump series, and then short on her switch side. we’ll see if that gets credit. finishes with a roundoff 1.5.
AFTER THREE: Western Michigan 146.175, Wilberforce 101.700
We finally have our first 9.800+ scores, from beam leadoff Garvey and anchor Samuelson! Today’s beam total for the Broncos of 48.925 is already ahead of their 2025 NQS, proving to be another good sign for the year. Diamond Cook put up strong tumbling for Wilberforce, and can score competitively next week if she can control the landings throughout her whole routine.
Rotation 4: Wilberforce BB, Western Michigan FX
Crowd is putting up their W hand signals, and we get a shot of last year’s Bronco seniors in the stands as we wait for rotation four to start.
Ma. Kelly (WU): front walkover, then nearly lands her bhs to two foot layout. routine fades out to show Milton’s floor. returning in the replay we see a two foot bhs to layout 1.5. 8.650
Milton (WMU): NOW we have music. same laser focus we saw from her leading off vault, into a clean front layout to rudi split jump. short rest in her choreo before pass two, and it pays off for her double tuck and a controlled lunge. 9.800
My. Kelly (WU): very pretty scale to start! fights and wins her bhs loso, then same on her switch. throws in a split to split 3/4 to keep the dance series. front aerial with a small check, then blows a kiss to the panel. closes with a bhs stuck layout full. 9.200
Korfhage (WMU): opens with a double tuck, a little trouble keeping her front foot down. quick work back into the corner for her WMU-signature punch rudi loso. she gets solid height in her switch full to split full, and keeps the energy high for her front layout front full to close. 9.750
Caines (WU): taking her time through the dance, then credits her front toss to bhs. cat to switch side is hesitant but stays on, which looks like it’s the goal for today. big check on her standing tuck, and sideways straddle 1/2. bhs tuck full stuck to finish. 9.100
Ciolfi (WMU): BIG double pike! same height in her double tuck, which is open and still bounces back. roundoff 1.5 front lay lands a little short and stumbles, but she keeps it to her feet. 9.625
Cooper (WMU): big full in to start, and making the most of her controlled lunge allowance. the whole team is doing her heartbeat choreo along with her, and then she launches into her leap series. front tuck through to double tuck to finish her afternoon. 9.725
Sy. Smith (WU): nearly connects side aerial to split jump, and then her routine fades out during the bhs loso. 9.325
Mooney (WMU): sky high double pike to start, very reminiscent of Bronco legend Payton Murphy. nearly out on her front lay front full, but stays locked in on her performance and hits a clean switch side to Popa. double tuck finishes her routine easily, and puts an exclamation mark on her all around efforts in her NCAA debut. 9.425
Right as Aliyah Kelly she takes her starting pose the YouTube stream is suddenly unavailable citing policy violations. The chat is also not pleased. We’re back after a few minutes with a good view of the athletic therapy table. Replay shows her full in, and choreo in slow motion before cutting out again. We were so close to seeing every scored routine! Kelly ultimately goes 8.750
Gelesko (WMU): exhibition — big punch double twist to start, and then has her whole team dancing with her towards her second pass. stream cuts again just as I started to trust it. 9.700
FINAL: Western Michigan 194.850, Wilberforce 137.975
All in all, both teams set themselves up for a good pace in 2026. Wilberforce surprised me on beam with three of their four routines going north of nine, even with composition deductions. Western Michigan proved they have depth on each event that’s just about ready, and they have anchors that can rally after a low score.
Next week both teams will get a short break from dual meet formats, with Wilberforce on the road at Fisk’s quad meet and Western Michigan travelling to Ball State’s tri meet on Sunday, January 11th.
VT: Casey Mooney, Brooke Gelesko: 9.775
UB: Julie Korfhage: 9.775
BB: Reese Samuelson: 9.825
FX: Hannah Milton: 9.800
AA: Casey Mooney: 38.725
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Live Blog by Peri Goodman
