Molly Tumanic

Sophomore Lynn Morris led the Blugolds to a second-place finish Friday in the John Zuerlein Invitational at UW-Stout.

Morris scored first in the all-around competition, finishing with a career-high score of 9.625 on the balance beam. Morris also took second of 29 competitors on the vault.

A total of six Blugold gymnasts received top 10 finishes in 11 events. UW-La Crosse took first place at the invitational with a score of 184.200; UW-Eau Claire finished at 180.025. UW-Whitewater rounded out the top three with a score of 174.775, followed by UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh.

Blugold junior Alison Eagles took fourth place in the all-around competition, scoring first on vault and seventh of 29 on the balance beam.

Eagles said she felt prepared going into the meet.

“I was feeling pretty strong,” she said. “We had a really good meet, especially on beam.”

The Blugolds hit seven-for-seven on the balance beam, Eagles said, with nobody falling off. Eagles said the performance was the best Eau Claire has had on beam all season.

Other Blugolds with top 10 finishes included freshman Chelsea Romportl and seniors Ashley Nelson on vault, Kelly Settle and sophomore Chelsey Brickweg on balance beam and Romportl on the uneven bars.

Settle said she was very pleased with the Blugold’s performance Friday.

“I think Friday was the most fun I’ve had this season,” she said. “We’ve been working really hard to take the pressure off ourselves and our motto for the rest of the season is to give 110 percent.”

Eau Claire will have a chance to beat La Crosse next Friday on the road in the WIAC conference championships.

“La Crosse has always been the team to beat,” Settle said. “They’ve won nationals, and we’ve come close to beating them. It’d really be an honor.”

Eagles said the team’s motivation stems from aspiration of going to the national competition for the second year in a row. This year, the meet will be in Boston.

Settle said that the team will all motivate each other to prepare for nationals.