MEET COVERAGE: Blue Devil Video |
Live Scoring (available about one hour before the meet)
THIS WEEK'S COMPETITION: The Blue Devils set a team school record when they competed at the Harley Davidson Invitational last weekend in Milwaukee and now will look to bring that momentum home when they host a pair of dual meets to close out the regular season schedule. The Blue Devils will host Hamline University, Friday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. for Short Person Appreciation Day (translation, youth day). The meet will be available in a live video stream with Allie Gams and
Maddy Sevilla providing the commentary.
THE BLUE DEVILS: As anticipated preseason, returning All-Americans
Brittany DeZiel and
Katherine Prouty have led the way for the Blue Devils this year. A year removed from tying for ninth in the all-around at the NCGA Championships, DeZiel and Prouty have each captured at least three individual first place finishes in Stout's first five meets and at least one first place finish apiece in the all-around. DeZiel, a junior, has won the all-around in three of the six meets, and took second in two more. Most recently, DeZiel set a new personal record in the all-around, scoring a 37.750 at the Harley Davidson Invitational last weekend. DeZiel has won the floor exercise and the uneven bars twice each, and set personal bests on the bars (9.650) and beam (9.450) last Friday. Prouty, a sophomore, began her season with three straight wins on the vault, but has failed to do so in the last two. Her vault score of 9.650 at the Ozone Meet helped Stout set a new team record of 47.150 in the event. Prouty set a personal best on the uneven bars at the dual at UW-La Crosse, helping Stout set a new uneven bars team record by more than a point. Stout scored a 46.950 on the bars.
Sara Perez scored a 9.500 on the bars on Friday, her third straight meet scoring at least 9.350 in the event. As a team, the Blue Devils have consistently improved their score with each meet, and set a school record on Friday with a team score of 185.700. Stout has scored above 180 points in all of their meets so far this season and have now scored at least 184 in two straight. |
Complete 2013 Preview |
2013 Season Stats
LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout kicked their routines into gear and ran their way to a school record at the Harley Davidson Invitational Feb. 15 at the Delta Center in downtown Milwaukee. The Blue Devils tallied a total score of 185.700 and toyed with setting individual event scores on the vault and the balance beam. Stout scored a 47.100 on the vault, just short of the school record of 47.125, and a 46.425 on the beam, short of the record of 46.625. As a team, Stout finished third in the meet. UW-La Crosse edged host UW-Whitewater, 187.250-187.200, for first and second. UW-Oshkosh was fourth, 180.975.
Brittany DeZiel (Jr, Rogers, Minn) took first on the uneven bars with a personal-best score of 9.650 and also set a personal best in finishing second in the all-around with a score of 37.750. DeZiel was eighth on the vault (9.50), 10th on the beam (9.45) and 13th on the floor exercise (9.15).
Katherine Prouty (So, Tigard, Ore) tied for second on the vault (9.60) and was third in the all-around (37.650). While not setting a personal best for the first time in three meets,
Sara Perez (Fr, Tigard, Ore) stayed hot on the uneven bars with a fifth place score of 9.50. |
Complete Results
HAMLINE UNIVERSITY: Through seven meets this season, the Pipers have scored above 180 three times, with their highest score of 184.675 coming this past weekend at the Best of Minnesota Meet, hosted by the University of Minnesota. Their next highest score, 181.975, also came at a Division I school when the Pipers traveled to Logan, Utah for a meet with Utah State and Southern Utah. The Pipers' season average team score is 178.414, compared to the Blue Devils' average of 182.683.
Courtney Benson and
Kambria Blakely have led the way for the Pipers this year, with Benson being the team's best all-arounder. Benson has won the all-around in all five meets against only DIII teams, and scored her personal-best score of 38.200 at the Best of Minnesota meet last weekend. Benson has done very well on the floor and also excels on the vault, where her and Blakely often occupy the top few spots. Benson often approaches 9.600 on the floor, a number she hit in their first meet of the season. Blakely collected wins on the vault in the first two meets, and has taken second twice since. Benson and Blakely each scored a season-best 9.650 on the vault in Utah. On the beam,
Corrinne Stifler has two silver medals, the most recent coming at Gustavus, where she scored a 9.300. |
Hamline Gymnastics Home
AWARDS AND HONORS: Katherine Prouty was named the UW-Stout athlete of the week after winning the all-around and setting personal bests on the uneven bars and balance beam in a dual with UW-La Crosse, Feb. 8...
Brittany DeZiel was named the UW-Stout athlete of the week after winning the all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise at the John Zuerlein Invitational, Jan. 25...
Brittany DeZiel was named the WIAC gymnast of the week after winning the all-around event at the Gustavus Adolphus Triangular to kick off the season.
THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Becky Beaulieu begins her eighth season as the Blue Devil coach. Under Beaulieu's direction, UW-Stout gymnasts have earned 25 All-American awards and Beaulieu has coached national champions on the balance beam in 2008, the floor exercise in 2009, the uneven bars in 2010 and the vault and floor exercise in 2011. A UW-Stout gymnast has qualified and competed at the NCAA Division I regionals in 2009 at the University of Iowa and in 2010 at the University of Utah. Beaulieu, competing as Becky McDonnell at UW-La Crosse from 1997-2001, captured back-to-back NCGA floor exercise titles in 1998 and 1999. She established a since-eclipsed school floor exercise record score of 9.8. A seven-time NCGA All-American, she also garnered all-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors nine times. The Eagles, for which she was a two-year captain, won two NCGA titles during her competing days. In 2012, Beaulieau was selected to the WIAC All-Time Gymnastics Team as the conference celebrated their 100th anniversary. |
Hamline University: Doug Byrnes is in his 13th season as the head coach of the Hamline women's gymnastics team. He began his career with Hamline in 1996 as an assistant coach and took over as head coach at the start of the 1999-2000 season. That year, the Pipers went on to win their first NCGA National Championship. Byrnes has coached 20 All-Americans during his 12-year tenure. Byrnes holds a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and practiced structural engineering for eight years prior to taking over as head coach.
WIAC AND NCGA: The
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) is made up of eight schools - UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater, Hamline University, Gustavus Adolphus College and Winona State University. These eight schools make up the NCGA West Region and are also members of the 15-school
National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA). The other seven schools are: SUNY-Brockport, SUNY-Cortland, Ithaca (NY) College, Springfield (Mass) College, Rhode Island College, Ursinus (Pa) College and Wilson (Pa) College.
UP NEXT: Stout will host UW-Oshkosh, Friday, March 1, at 6 p.m. in the final home meet of the season.
