From the WIAA —
THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 56th Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Gymnastics State Championships will take place Friday-Saturday, March 6-7 at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. The team championships in Divisions 1 and 2 will begin Friday at noon. The individual championships will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for the State Gymnastics Championships are $9 per day plus online fees, and they are available to be purchased on-line on the WIAA website through GoFan, the WIAA ticketing partner, at: https://gofan.co/app/school/WIAA2?activity=Gymnastics.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: Ten teams will compete for the Division 1 and Division 2 team titles. The top two teams from each of the five sectionals in each division qualified 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.
TEAM SCORING: Team scores are compiled by adding the sum of the four best individual scores in each of the four events in the team competition.
CHAMPIONSHIPS STREAMED LIVE: All events of the State Gymnastics 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 $12.99 per month, log-on to WIAA.TV or NFHSnetwork.com and click on the subscription button in the header of the page. Archived streams of the sessions will be available on demand 72 hours after the tournament.
COMPETING TEAMS: The 10 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 Arrowhead (19), Eau Claire Memorial/North (14), Elkhorn (12), Franklin/Muskego (4), Oshkosh West/North (3), Stevens Point Area Senior High (25) Verona/Edgewood (14), Waukesha West/South (1), Waunakee/DeForest (2) and West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor (8). The 10 teams competing in Division 2 are Dodgeville/Highland/Iowa-Grant/Mineral Point (3), Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Cochrane-Fountain City/Melrose-Mindoro (9), Homestead (27), Marshfield (6), Mount Horeb (39), Rhinelander (7), River Falls (34), Sparta (4), Waupun (6) and Whitefish Bay (29). There were 78 teams in the Tournament Series this year, including 40 in Division 1 and 38 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 have a combined enrollment less than the enrollment of the largest stand-alone program in each respective division. Whitefish Bay has won the most team championships with 12, which doesn’t include two titles with Shorewood as a co-op. The Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall co-op is second on the list of team titles won with eight. In addition, the Franklin/Muskego co-op added team titles in 2022 and in 2024. Waukesha West/North/South is next on the list with seven, and Mount Horeb and River Falls are fourth with six. Brookfield Central, De Pere and Nicolet have five titles. Addie Gallun of Whitefish Bay and Beth Weber of Whitefish Bay/Shorewood have 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: Chippewa Falls/McDonell Catholic captured the program’s first championship, claiming the Division 1 title by scoring a four-event score of 143.55, and Oak Creek/Whitnall finished runner-up with a score of 142.6. Rice Lake won the Division 2 championship with a score of 138.234. Monona Grove finished in second place, scoring 137.517 points. Individually, Kaylee Frank of Elkhorn won the Division 1 all-around competition, compiling a score of 38.05. Frank also won the bars competition with a score of 9.683 and the vault, scoring a 9.6 in the event. Kate Krauklis of Elkhorn captured the championship on the balance beam with a score of 9.583. Zoe Marckesano of Verona/Edgewood was the champion in the floor exercise with a score of 9.567. In Division 2, McKennah Orth of West Bend East won the all-around with a score of 37.183. She also added the title in the floor exercise with a performance that scored 9.65. Avery Ash of Rice Lake won the beam for the second consecutive season with a score of 9.583, and Zofia Raduege of Jefferson/Cambridge won the vault with the score of 9.4. Madelyn Klein of Dodgeville/Highland/Iowa-Grant/Mineral Point captured the uneven bars crown with a score of 9.383.
DIVISION 1 NOTEBOOK: There are no events that return their champions from the State Meet last season. Junior Annika Lee of Waunakee/DeForest is the highest finishing returner to vault competition with her runner-up finish last year after placing third in 2024. Five other vaulters return on a quest to medal in the event with quality experience after placing in the top 10 last season. Sophomore Claire Walther of Eau Claire Memorial/North placed fourth; senior Journee Carter finished sixth; seniors Payton Eicher of Arrowhead and Dominika Ziemba of Verona/Edgewood tied for seventh and junior Aspen Goth of Middleton was 10th. Other gymnasts not already stated that won their sectional competitions in the vault may also challenge for a position on the podium, including seniors Ava Zepezauer of Elkhorn and Neve Schlies of Oshkosh West/North. Lee is also the top returning competitor on the balance beam with her third-place finish a year ago. Junior Emily Corteen of Arrowhead could also contend for the title after placing fifth last year. Among last week’s champions on the balance beam at sectionals that seek to compete for the gold medal include senior Olivia Antreassian of Wilmot Union/Badger/Burlington/Union Grove/Williams Bay, senior Reagan Muchow of Eau Claire Memorial/North, junior Peyton McPherson of Grafton/Cedarburg and sophomore Claire Strayer of Waunakee/DeForest. A returning group of competitors seeking to improve on last season’s outcomes in the uneven parallel bars competition is highlighted by senior Norah Adams of Elkhorn, who finished runner-up a year ago. Senior Kaylee Tilmont of Arrowhead also attempts to move up the podium after placing fifth a year ago. The same is true for both Carter and Goth, who tied for ninth last season. Others that may contend for the title based on last week’s sectional championships in the event are seniors Mackenzie Gruszynski of Hartford, Hayden Rohde of West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor, Antreassian and Schlies.
The floor exercise has several State-experienced gymnasts competing in the event this year. The top returning contenders in the event are Lee, who placed third last season after a runner-up finish in 2024, and Muchow, who was seventh a year ago. Others that placed in the top 11 in 2025 that seek to be among the leaders in the event this year are Schlies and junior Hailey Schueneman of Brookfield East/Central, who tied for eighth, and Ziemba and Goth, who tied in the 11th position. Last week’s sectional champions that may also compete for medal positions are senior Camdyn Lyga of West Salem/Aquinas/Bangor, Carter and Kurth. Four experienced gymnasts will again contend for the all-around championship this year. Lee, who was third last year and fourth in 2024, is the top returning competitor in the all-around. Muchow was seventh last year, who finished just ahead of Schlies, who tied for eighth. Goth is also in the mix of contenders after placing 11th a year ago. In addition, senior Grace Hibler of Franklin/Muskego returns to the State Meet after placing eighth in the all-around in 2024 and 10th in 2023. Other all-around champions at sectionals last week that may contend for the title are Antreassian, Gruszynski and Walther.
DIVISION 2 NOTEBOOK: There are two events with former champions among their qualifiers this year. Junior Madelyn Klein of Dodgeville returns to the uneven bars after winning the championship last year. Sophomore Ruby Amundson of River Falls and senior Gabi Ortiz Fleet of Shorewood/University School of Milwaukee may also contend for a medal in the event after placing third and fifth, respectively. Others attempting to challenge for positions on the podium in the uneven bars based on their sectional championships are seniors Gabriella Bjorkman of Sparta, Kayla Kestner of Homestead and Ciara Sieracki of Valders/Roncalli, and also freshman Jazlyn Kurth of Marshfield. Senior Zofia Raduege of Jefferson/Cambridge is the returning champion in the vault competition. Klein also returns to the event after placing seventh a year ago, as does Bjorkman, who placed ninth. They look to finish among the leaders along with a number of sectional champions, including Amundson and junior Alexis Smith of Rhinelander. The floor exercise returns several gymnasts seeking the gold medal. Among them are junior Zeva Valley of Baraboo, who placed fifth in the event last year; senior Josie Merluzzi-Hitler of Shorewood/University School of Milwaukee, who placed seventh; and Amundson, who was ninth. Among the champions in the event at last week’s sectionals, who could also contend for the title are seniors Michielah Borchardt of Waupun and Faith Hoffman of the Dodgeville co-op, Ortiz Fleet and Bjorkman. Bjorkman headlines the balance beam after placing third in the event last year. She will be joined by two others that return following top eight finishes last season, including Valley, who was sixth and Amundson, who was eighth. Champions advancing from the sectionals seeking the title in the balance beam competition are junior Taylor Jacobson of Waterford, senior Kiki Manicke of Marshfield and Sieracki. The top contenders for the all-around title include three gymnasts that placed in the top six last season. Klein looks to take the final step on the award podium after a runner-up finish in 2025. Bjorkman and Amundson could also contend for the title after placing fourth and sixth last year, respectively. Others that could challenge that trio are Ortiz Fleet and Sieracki after their sectional title performances last week.
FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Gymnastics Tournament on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaagym. Also like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at wiaawi.
STATE TOURNEY CENTRAL: The WIAA has a one-stop page on the website for State Tournament information named State Tourney Central. The page displays links for users seeking information about the State Tournaments, including schedules, tickets, parking, venue carry-in policies, results, previews, where to watch streams, apparel and much more.
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, or log-in to the restricted media area of the site and access the gymnastics information in the State Tourney Information in the center section.
NEED RESULTS?: The quickest way to attain results will be to access the link to ScoreFlippers on the gymnastics tournament homepage on the WIAA website. Once on the ScoreFlippers website at: https://scoreflippers.com/INSIGHT and click on the WIAA option to view live scoring.