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Four-for-four: Bach attains perfection
Senior qualifies for fourth straight state gymnastics trip, wins individual sectional ti
michaela bach
Hillsboro senior Michaela Bach qualified for her fourth consecutive WIAA gymnastics state championships as a member of the Viroqua cooperative team and as an individual. - photo by Nate Beier photo/Sentry-Enterprise archives

REEDSBURG — Hillsboro’s Michaela Bach made it a perfect 4-for-4, qualifying for her fourth straight WIAA Gymnastics State Championships both as a member of the Viroqua/Cashton/Hillsboro/North Crawford team and as an individual.

Bach led the Blackhawks to a second straight trip to team state and qualified for an individual in the all-around and all four disciplines at Saturday’s WIAA D2 Reedsburg Sectional.

Viroqua/Cashton/Hillsboro/North Crawford won the sectional team title with a combined scored of 137.475, while Bach captured the individual all-around sectional crown (35.150), just ahead of teammates Jozie McClelland (35.050) and Faith Gillen (34.75), who finished second and third.

The top two teams qualified for the 45th annual team state championships, which will be held Friday at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School beginning at 2 p.m.

The top five individuals in the all-around and all four events advance to the individual state championships, which will be held Saturday beginning at 11:10 a.m.

Bach finished second on the balance beam (8.625), uneven bars (8.825) and the vault (8.775), while placing fourth on the floor exercise (8.825).

McClelland won the individual sectional titles in both the floor (9.475) and vault (8.90).

Gillen won sectional gold in the uneven bars with a score of 8.850.

A year ago the Viroqua co-op finished eighth out of 10 teams, but Saturday’s score of 137.475 was the fourth best in Division 2 over the weekend.

Only top-ranked Mount Horeb (142.125), River Falls (139.175) and Whitefish Bay (138.650) posted higher sectional team scores.

This will be the Viroqua co-op's fifth trip to team state since 2009 under coach Darcy McClelland (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015).

A year ago as a junior, Bach tied for 19th on the floor (8.733) and the vault (8.633), placed 23rd on the bars (7.917) and placed 18th out of 25 competitors in the all-around with a combined score of 33.633 at individual state.

The younger McClelland placed 11th in the all-around (34.683) after a ninth-place tie in the bars (8.567), 11th-place routines in both the floor (8.983) and the vault (9.0) and a 16th-place on the balance beam (8.133).

Gillen finished 12th on the bar (8.30) and 19th on the beam (7.733) in her first trip to the individual state championships last year.