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Road to Nationals |
MENOMONIE (March 23, 2022) - UW-Stout senior
Mikala Bugge (Oakdale, Minn) will be making her third appearance at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championship, while Blue Devil sophomore
Kiara Brown (Whitewood, S.D.) and freshmen
Effie Ferguson (Mississauga, Ontario) and
Isabela Krulich (Rosemount, Minn) will be making their first national appearance when the meet returns after a two-year hiatus. The meet will be hosted by Ithaca (N.Y.) College, Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m. (ET).
Bugge made appearances on the national stage in 2017 as a freshman when Stout hosted the meet, then returned in 2019 when the meet was held at UW-Oshkosh. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two times Bugge advanced to the national meet she returned home with All-American hardware. During her freshman year in 2017, Bugge placed 12th on the vault for her first All-America medal. In 2019, Bugge helped Stout to their best ever finish at the national meet when the Blue Devils finished second. Bugge earned three All-America medals when she took second in the all-around, seventh on the vault and eighth in the balance beam.
Bugge will compete on the vault and is currently ranked second on the event nationally. Bugge hit a career-high 9.775 on the event earlier this season and has an average score of 9.692 and an SAS score of 9.7438. Bugge's overall average is tops in the country.
Brown will compete on the uneven bars, Ferguson on the balance beam and Krulich on the floor exercise.
Brown has scored a season-high 9.625 on the uneven bars and her overall average of 9.542 is second in the NCGA. Her SAS score of 9.5813 has Brown tied for 14th. Brown was second in the all-around at the WIAC Championship.
Ferguson will look to parlay her second place finish at the conference championship into some hardware this weekend. Ferguson has scored 9.725 or better in her last two meets, scoring a career-best 9.750 in a dual with UW-Whitewater and scored a 9.725 at the WIAC Championship. Ferguson's overall average of 9.583 is fifth overall and her SAS score of 9.6625 is seventh.
Krulich was one of six gymnasts nationally to score a 9.800 on the floor exercise. Only four gymnasts were given a higher score this year on the floor exercise. Krulich's SAS score of 9.6313 ranks 17th and her overall average of 9.530 ranks 15th. With the exception of the season-opening meet, Krulich has scored a 9.425 or higher on the floor exercise in all other meets.
SUNY-Brockport, Ithaca College, Springfield College, UW-La Crosse, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh have qualified as teams. Brockport is the defending national champion with the 2019 win, edging Stout 191.050-190.275. Whitewater was third in 2019, Oshkosh fourth and Ithaca fifth. Brockport is ranked first, according to the national website,
Road to Nationals. Whitewater is second, Oshkosh third, La Crosse fourth and Ithaca fifth. Stout was ranked sixth nationally, but only the top three schools from each region qualify.
The meet will be available to view on a pay-per-view basis by
FloGymnastics. Please allow yourself enough time - minimum of 10 minutes - to set up FloGymnastics before the meet.
