Gustavus Adolphus and UW-Whitewater at Hamline

Recap 

The Big Storyline: Hamline captured its first score over 180 while Gustavus was forced to only put four athletes in its vault lineup. Although Whitewater captured the team victory, its beam performance kept the overall score lower than the Warhawks will want to count when the rankings switch to SAS. 

Implications: UW-Whitewater will want to leave its beam performance this weekend behind it. After a solid season opener, the Warhawks’ team score this weekend will not help it to move up the NCGA rankings. Hamline’s team score improved by four and a half points courtesy of event winning scores from Madeline Sowinski and an improved team floor performance. Bars continues to hold the Pipers down, but adding Julia Cheely will ultimately prove to be a step in the right direction. Gustavus’ lineup choices this week might indicate that something bigger was at play. Originally, Annie Corbett was slated to compete on more events than she tallied. If Corbett is out long term, that could be difficult for the Gusties to overcome. Only four athletes competed on vault, so the fifth score counted was a zero. That drastically impacted the overall team score. It begs the question: Do the Gusties not have a fifth athlete capable of vaulting? Or was COVID to do with the limited lineup? Even if the start value is lower, a low score is definitely better than no score. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out next weekend. For reference, the Gusties have been putting up five athletes on the event all season, but both Corbett and Esteb were out of the lineup this week despite competing on other events. 

Records: Sophia Redding continued her streak of 9.6-plus bar routines for the Gusties. Her 9.625 this weekend marks three straight.