Butch McCartney

Sounds of cheering and music loud enough to be coming from a playoff basketball game were actually from the gym in McPhee on Tuesday night, during the practice of the women’s gymnastics team.

The team is made up of athletes including sophomore Kristina Reitzel, freshmen Alison Eagles and Adria Walin, who through team unity and individual hard work, have had a strong season thus far.

Gymnastics has many benefits as an individual sport as it does as a team sport.

“As much as gymnastics is an individual sport where you’re alone on an event, your score counts for the team and the team is our main focus,” said Walin, who was named athlete of the week for her performance in the six-team UWEC Invitational on Jan. 18. She fought hard and earned ties for fifth place in the vault with a 9.05, for 16th on the bars with a 8.30 and she also tied for 18th with her 8.70 in the floor exercise.

The rewards outweigh the challenges of the sport, but all the girls said they agree that the time commitment is one of the challenges.

“If you’re having a bad day on something you have to spend more time on it,” said Reitzel, who helped her team score over 170 points in the Gershon/McLellan Invitational meet on Feb. 1. Reitzel took fourth place in the vault with a score of 9.15 and was the only gymnast on the team to place in the top six of all the events. She tied the fourth top score in school history with her 34.625 in the all-around.

Benefits come more through getting in shape and being healthy, Reitzel said. Practice also helps distract the team from problems with school and everyday life, she said.

They all agreed that seeing the improvement and growth of the team and the friendships that are made are some of the rewards.

“We all try to have a common goal,” Reitzel said. The team offers a lot of support, but the coaches play a big role as well.

Coach Lisa McIntyre allows the girls to talk about anything with her, Walin said.

The girls said they agreed that cheering and motivation are some of the main ways the team offers support to each other.

“We’re a very close team,” said Eagles, who has earned the athlete of the week title twice this year, once in the dual meet against UW-La Crosse on Dec. 11 and again for her scores in the Gershon/McLellan Invitational. In La Crosse, the first meet of her college career, Eagles placed with a 34.7 all around.

At the Gershon Invitational, she improved her all around to her season high of 35.275.

Closeness and support are especially important because there are no tryouts for the gymnastics team. Though only the top six gymnasts compete on the team, if everyone is willing to show up everyday and work hard, they are on the team, Eagles said. No matter who competes, to be good and successful, “it’s a team effort,” she said.

Outside of practice, the friendships made in the gym carry into the teams’ normal life too.

“I think everyone on the team is friends,” Walin said. “We’ve just hung out and watched movies, gone out for ice cream, gone shopping together,” she said. “It’s basically all the things you do with friends not on the team.”

Friday brings a home dual meet against UW-River Falls. Reitzel said her goal individually and for the team is to earn higher scores than the previous competition. This goal is not out of reach for Reitzel, Eagles and Walin, or the rest of the team.

The three girls compete in the all around, and Eagles said this means the whole team contributes to some events, but some cover more of a variety of events than others.

One thing is for sure, these girls have a strong relationship with each other and the rest of the team.

“I think that’s one of the things that makes our team so strong,” Walin said. “The closeness.”