Gymnastics Preview: Stout to host Oshkosh in final home meet of season

THIS WEEK'S COMPETITION: The Blue Devils will close out their regular season, Friday, March 1, when they welcome UW-Oshkosh into Johnson Fieldhouse for a 6 p.m. dual meet. Friday's meet will be part of Women's Abuse Awareness Night presented by UW-Stout's Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). The meet will be available in a live video stream with Allie Gams and Kimberly Kalton providing the commentary.

SENIOR NIGHT: Friday's meet will also be part of Senior Night, where Stout will recognize seniors Jenna Lensing, Genna Boeckmann, and Vanessa Zahratka for their careers as Blue Devils.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: The Blue Devils were ranked fifth in the latest national Division III-level poll. Individually in the all-around, Brittany DeZiel was ranked second and Katherine Prouty was ranked fifth.

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 captured a combined 15 first place finishes through seven meets. DeZiel, a junior, has tallied eight wins. She has won the floor exercise twice, the all-around three times, and the uneven bars three times, including wins on the bars in the past two meets. DeZiel has set career highs on the beam (9.450), bars (9.650) and the all-around (37.750) this season. Prouty, a sophomore, sat out the first meet, and has collected seven wins in the six meets since. Prouty's specialty is the vault, which she has won four times, and maintains a season average of 9.558 in the event. Prouty has also won the all-around twice and the floor once, winning both last Friday against Hamline. Prouty's season-high 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 continues to shine on the uneven bars and has scored at least a 9.450 on the bars in the past three meets. As a team, the Blue Devils have consistently improved their scores since the start of the season, and set a school record at the Harley Davidson Invitational 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 three straight events. 

LAST TIME OUT:  Katherine Prouty took first place on the vault, floor exercise, and in the all-around as Stout defeated Hamline University, 184.325-182.350, Friday night at Johnson Fieldhouse. Prouty won the vault for the fourth time this season with a score of 9.550. She bested everyone on the floor with a 9.600 and took the all-around with a total of 37.675. Prouty took second (9.225) and third (9.300) on the beam and bars, respectively. On the bars, Prouty was among five Blue Devils who occupied the top five spots. Brittany DeZiel took first, followed by Sara Perez, Prouty, Jenna Lensing, and Genna Boeckmann, in order. Kaitlynn Christensen set a new personal best on the floor, taking third with a 9.550. DeZiel finished fifth on the floor with a 9.450 and tied for fourth with Randi Schorzman on the vault, both with identical scores of 9.350. 

UW-OSHKOSH: UW-Oshkosh has been all over the map this season, with team scores as low as 175.850 but as high as 185.350. In their two meetings with Stout this season, each school has a victory over the other. At the Ozone Meet in Knoxville, Tenn. in January, the Titans edged Stout, 181.450-180.800. More recently, Stout easily defeated Oshkosh, 185.700-180.975. Oshkosh has scored over 180 in five of their eight meets and have a season average of 180.391 compared to Stout's average of 182.918. Krystal Walker is Oshkosh's only all-arounder, but is a good one at that, ranked seventh in DIII. She was defeated by both Prouty and DeZiel in Milwaukee, but got the best of both Blue Devils in Tennessee, where she won the all-around with a 37.150. Walker's best event is the beam, which has been the event Stout tends to score the lowest on. Walker's average of 9.381 on the event is more than two-tenths of a point higher than anyone on Stout's roster, and she won the event in the teams' previous two meetings. Abby Zubella won the floor exercise in each of those events, and has scored a 9.400 or higher in all but one outing this season. 

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. | UW-Oshkosh: Lauren Karnitz is in her sixth season as the head coach of the Titans Gymnastics team. She has coached three All-Americans in her five years at Oshkosh and twice earned fifth-place team finishes. Karnitz competed as a Titan from 2003-06, and qualified for nationals in the floor exercise.


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:  After hosting them Friday, Stout will travel to UW-Oshkosh, Saturday, March 9, for the WIAC Championships/NCGA Regionals.