SPRING GREEN — The stage is set for a conference championship gymnastics showdown between Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster and Southwestern/Cuba City.
Next Monday’s dual between the Hillmen and the Wildcats will determine this year’s SWC dual meet champion. The SWC Championship meet will be held Feb. 20 at Southwestern.
Coach Jessica Hill’s Hillmen improved to 3–0 in SWC duals with a 131.0–122.350 victory at River Valley Monday evening, posting a season-high score.
Junior Jenna Phillips finished second on the balance beam (8.50), tied for second on the bars (8.10), and tied for third on the vault (8.25) on her way to a second-place all-around finish (33.07) to lead the Platteville tri-op Monday night.
Sophomore Grace Hammermeister finished a close third in the all-around (33.40) after winning the balance beam (8.60) and finishing second in the floor exercise (9.20).
Junior Alyssa Bainbridge placed fifth in the all-around with a combined score of 32.675. She finished second on the vault (8.250), tied for second on the bars (8.10) and fourth on the beam (7.925).
“We continue to work on raising the value of our routines, but Monday we looked much better than Saturday,” said coach Hill. “I was pleased with the improvement, but also excited to see the potential improvement for the rest of the season.”
Saturday Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster finished third at the River Valley Invitational with a score of 126.375, behind Mount Horeb (139.625), the top ranked team in Division 2, and Southwestern/Cuba City (127.25).
A week earlier the Hillmen finished ahead of the Wildcats 129.975–127.85 at Southwestern/Cuba City Invitational.
Monday’s dual for all the marbles will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Platteville High School.
Hammermeister posted a team-best second-place finish on the floor exercise Saturday with a score of 9.20.
“We started on beam at the River Valley meet,” said Hill. “Some of the gymnasts put harder skills in their routines and struggled to stay on when completing them. This was a risk that had to be taken at some point in the season if we want to continue to improve our scores.
“Our second event was floor and we had solid performances. Grace and Jenna continue to have outstanding routines while Alyssa continues to improve. Vault performances were also solid. We are also working on higher level vaults which will improve our score in the future. Bars was our final event and it was our best bar performance this year.”
River Valley Invitational
(from Saturday, Jan. 31 @ Spring Green)
Team Scores — 1.Mount Horeb 139.625, 2.Southwestern/Cuba City 127.25 3.Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster 126.375, 4.Dodgeville/Mineral Point 117.925, 5.River Valley 115.725, 6.Baraboo 114.725, 7.Sauk Prairie 104.0.
Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster’s top finishers
All-around — 6(tie).Grace Hammermeister 32.750, 8.Jenna Phillips 32.125, 11.Alyssa Bainbridge 30.90.
Vault — 6.Hammermeister 8.50, 15(tie).Phillips 8.10, 18(tie).Rand 8.050, 20(tie).Bainbridge 8.0, 29.Marissa Marino 7.60. Uneven bars — 4.Phillips 8.3, 13.Rand 7.70, 16.Bainbridge 7.50, 17.Hammermeister 7.450, 19.Marino 7.150. Floor Exercise — 2.Hammermeister 9.20, 10.Bainbridge 8.475, 11.Phillips 8.450, 16.Allison Stader 7.950, 20.Brroke Pagliaro 7.70. Balance Beam — 11.Hammermeister 7.60, 13.Phillips 7.275, 15.Bainbridge 6.925, 16.Regan Geigle 6.90, 18.Stader 6.775.
Platteville/Bel./Lan. 131.0, River Valley 122.350
(from Monday, Feb. 2 @ Spring Green)
Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster’s top finishers
All-around — 2.Jenna Phillips 33.70, 3.Grace Hammermeister 33.4, 5.Alyssa Bainbridge 32.675.
Uneven bars — 2(tie).Phillips 8.1, 2(tie).Bainbridge 8.1, 5.Hammermeister 7.45, 6.Maddie Rand 7.3, 8.Marissa Marino 7.3. Vault — 2.Bainbridge 8.45, 3(tie).Phillips 8.250, 5.Hammermeister 8.15, 6.Rand 8.15, 7.Marino 7.85. Floor Exercise — 2.Hammermeister 9.20, 4.Phillips 8.85, 5.Bainbridge 8.20, 6.Allison Stader 8.10, 9(tie).Brook Pagliaro 7.3. Balance Beam — 1.Hammermeister 8.60, 2.Phillips 8.50, 4.Bainbridge 7.925, 5.Stader 7.775, 7.Geigle 7.30.
