THE CHAMPIONSHIPS:  The 50th Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Gymnastics State Championships will take place Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. The team championships will begin Friday at 1 p.m. The individual competition will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Ticket prices for the championships are $8 per session and are available at the door.

50 YEARS OF STATE GYMNASTICS:   In recognition of the 50th Anniversary, the State Meet will feature 50 years of memorabilia on display and a video exhibiting 50 years of gymnastics images and memories. In addition, multiple State Meet event champions, record-holders, and inductees in the high school gymnastics Hall of Fame are also invited to take part in the celebration. Other highlights of the celebration include a commemorative insert in the State Meet souvenir program, as well as giveaways for spectators attending the event throughout the weekend.

CHAMPIONSHIPS FORMAT:  Eleven teams will compete for the team title in Division 1. An additional qualifier is a result of a tie in one of the qualifying sectional meets. There are 10 teams advancing to the State meet in Division 2. The top two teams from each of the five sectionals in each division qualify for the meet. The top five individuals in each event and the top five all-arounds at each sectional qualify for the State individual championships.

CHAMPIONSHIPS STREAMED LIVE:  All events of the individual and team championships will be streamed live and can be viewed with a subscription to the NFHS Network. To purchase a subscription to the live programming for only $10.99 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the subscription button in the header of the page. Archived streams of the sessions will be available on demand on www.nfhsnetwork.com 72 hours after the tournament without requirement of a subscription.

COMPETING TEAMS:  The 11 teams that will be competing for the team State championship in Division 1, with the number of times the programs have qualified for the team competition in parentheses, are Burlington/Badger (1), Hartford (4), Holmen (17), Homestead (23), Madison Memorial (22), Marshfield (4), Menomonee Falls/Germantown (2), Milton/Edgerton (1), Nicolet (19), Verona/Edgewood (8), Wilmot/Union Grove/Williams Bay (1). The 10 teams competing in Division 2 are Ashland/Mellen (2), Elkhorn (7), Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro/Cochrane-Fountain City (7), Medford/Colby/Gilman (1), Mount Horeb (33), Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster (9), River Falls (30), Sparta (1), Waupun (4) and Whitefish Bay (25). There were 82 teams in the Tournament Series this year, including 41 in Division 1 and 41 in Division 2.

TEAM TOURNAMENT HISTORY:  The WIAA has sponsored the State Gymnastics Championships since 1971. The event featured one division from 1971 through 1977. The State Tournament Series competition was divided into two divisions in 1978. In 2020, a change to cooperative team eligibility restricted co-op programs to a maximum of two schools or a combined enrollment of co-op must be less than the enrollment of the largest stand-alone program in each respective division. Whitefish Bay has won the most team championships with 10, which doesn’t include two titles with Shorewood as a co-op. The Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall co-op second on the list of team titles won with eight. Waukesha West/North/South is next on the list with seven, and River Falls is fourth with six. Brookfield Central, De Pere and Mount Horeb have five titles. Nicolet and Southwestern/Cuba City have won four championships. Beth Weber of Whitefish Bay/Shorewood has won the most individual championships in meet history with 10. Gina Piazza of Fall River is next with eight, and Jenny Donar of Southwestern/Cuba City and Samantha Krueger of River Falls have won seven.

LAST YEAR:  Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall Co-op won its fourth consecutive  Division 1 team championship with a team score of 148.2833. Burlington/ Badger/Catholic Central/Union Grove/Williams Bay/ Wilmot placed runner-up with a tally of 144.2167. Individually, Gracie Holland of Marshfield won the all-around competition with a score of 37.267. She also captured the crown in the vault with a score of 9.567. Alexis Woida of Arrowhead earned the title on the balance beam with a score of 9.483. Emily Perkowski of Hartford won the floor exercise with a routine scoring a 9.4. Taylor Raskin of Homestead was the champion on the uneven bars with a score of 9.417.  In Division 2, Whitefish Bay won the team title for the fourth straight season and for the membership-leading 10th time overall with a score of 145.2. Mount Horeb was runner-up with a score of 141.0833. Individually, Addie Gallun of Whitefish Bay was the big winner with two individual event titles and finishing first in the all-around with a score of 37.917. She won the floor exercise with a mark of 9.517 and the uneven bars for the second straight season, scoring a 9.383. Lorisa  Shatrawka of River Valley/Barneveld won the balance beam with a score of 9.567, and Payton Jenks-Recker of Monona Grove scored a 9.5 to win the vault.

DIVISION 1 NOTEBOOK:  There are four former champions seeking to add to their gold medal collection and three seek back-to-back titles. Senior Gracie Holland of Marshfield is the returning champion in both the all-around and the vault. Junior Emily Perkowski of Hartford is the 2019 champion in the floor exercise seeking a second straight title in the event. Senior Taylor Raskin of Homestead is the defending champion in the uneven parallel bars. She returns in pursuit of repeating as champion. Raskin also placed runner-up in the event in 2018. Senior Lexi Penney of Brookfield East/Central won the balance beam championship in 2017 and tied for fourth in 2018. She has qualified seeking a return to championship form in the event. Others among last season’s top performers in their events returning to contend for the title are Perkowski, who placed third in the balance beam, and sophomore Harley Bartels of Holmen, who placed seventh in that event. Sophomore Izzy Wong of Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall has qualified again in the uneven bars after placing third last season. Holland and senior Gracie Moran of Waukesha West/North/South/Catholic Memorial could again contend in the bars after finishing fourth and fifth, respectively last season. Holland and senior Caelen Lansing of La Crosse Logan/Central return to the floor exercise after they placed tied for sixth and tied for fourth, respectively last year. Junior Maggie Losch of Kenosha Tremper/Indian Trail/Bradford/Westosha Central may also challenge for the title in the floor exercise based on a third-place finish in the event in 2018. Returning gymnasts in the vault that look to improve on their standing in 2019 include junior Kynnedi Malone of Nicolet and sophomore Meghan Todd of Menomonee Falls/Germantown. They finished fourth and tied for sixth, respectively. Other contenders for individual titles and the all-around championship this week based on sectional performances include junior Miranda Knabe of Menomonee Falls/Germantown, who won the vault, uneven bars and the all-around at one of the two sectionals held in Burlington, In addition, the Middleton sectional all-around title was closely contested with sophomore Meghan Hurtgen of Watertown winning the sectional title without winning an event.

DIVISION 2 NOTEBOOK:  Junior Addie Gallun of Whitefish Bay is the returning champion in two individual events and the all-around. She is the two-time champion in the uneven bars, and she earned the championship in the floor exercise a year ago. Her title in the all-around last year came on the heels of a runner-up finish in 2018. Gallun is also the top returning gymnast in the vault after finishing runner-up last season. Furthermore, she was second in the balance beam behind only Lorisa Shatrowka, a sophomore, of River Valley/Barneveld, who won the balance beam title in 2019. She returns in defense of the crown. She may also challenge Gallun in the all-around and floor exercise after her third-placed finish in each of those events last season. In addition, she is among the leading candidates to contend for the uneven bars title after placing in a tie for seventh last year. Others among last season’s top finishers in their respective events returning to possibly contend for a title are junior Drea O’Connell of Mount Horeb, who finished runner-up to Gallun in the floor exercise, uneven bars and in the all-around last season. She also placed tied for second in the vault and was fifth on the balance beam. Sophomore Lily Wiegand of Sparta, and senior Miah Lemanski of Dodgeville/Mineral Point may also contend for the crown in the vault. They return with experience, having placed fourth and tied for fifth, respectively in the vault last year. Wiegand was also one of the top finishers in the floor exercise and balance beam last season, placing in a tie for fourth and sixth, respectively. Senior Marlie Lockhart of Elkhorn looks to improve upon her fourth-place finish on the bars. Sophomore Anneh Britz of Whitefish Bay returns to the balance beam following a fourth-place standing a year ago, Sophomore Ella Krause West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor finished fifth last season on the bars, and junior Autumn Tiede of River Falls returns to the vault after tying for fifth last year. Senior Isabella Doege of Waupun is back after tying for sixth in the floor exercise in 2019. Another top contender for the gold medal in various events based on last week’s sectional performances is senior Lakyn Sonday of Washburn, who won all four individual events and the all-around at the Antigo Sectional.

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NEED THE QUALIFIERS?:  All participants and rotations  of qualifying teams and individuals are available on the WIAA website. Access the gymnastics tournament homepage and select the State Tournament Information section.

NEED RESULTS?:  The quickest way to attain results will be to access the Tournament Information section from the gymnastics homepage on the WIAA website.