UW-Stout at UW-Whitewater

Recap 

The Big Storyline: Whitewater’s vault and beam lineups led the way to another conference victory. Rachel Lewellen continued to dominate on vault, scoring a 9.800 for her Yurchenko tuck full. She has consistently led the event throughout the season along with Kara Welsh, the second member of the Warhawks’ dynamic duo. Despite posting a lower bars score today, Whitewater posted the highest total in the WIAC this week. UW-Stout put together a season high thanks to a team best 47.700 on beam. 

Implications: The other teams in the WIAC should be getting nervous. Whitewater seems to have the highest ceiling this year, especially if it can hit on bars. With this week’s performance, the Warhawks will move to first in the conference and second in the NCGA, only behind Brockport. Whitewater and Brockport are the only NCGA teams to surpass the 192 mark this season, so those two are the ones expected to contend for the national title this season. However, the Warhawks have had a few more consistency problems than the Golden Eagles. Anything could happen. Stout’s season high team performance will not be enough to move ahead of La Crosse this week in the rankings. With the fourth spot in the West, the Blue Devils have an outside shot of a team qualification to nationals. The team will need a little help from its competitors to stay in the mix, though. Either way, expect to see sixth-year Mikala Bugge advancing.