Sometimes, all it takes is one event to cause things to go south.

For the UW-Eau Claire gymnastics team, the floor event caused a major problem at its meet Friday night at UW-Stout, head coach Jean DeLisle said.

“We gave the meet away because of floor,” she said.

The Blugolds competed against three other teams Friday night. UW-Oshkosh and Stout both scored 175.575 to tie for first place. Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) followed the leaders with 171.625 points. Eau Claire fell about 6 points below Oshkosh and Stout with 169.525 points.

DeLisle said that during the floor event, the team fell a number of times, were unable to follow through and watered down their routines.

Sophomore Kerri Ritsche agreed with DeLisle, saying that it was the only event of the evening that hurt the team.

“I don’t know if it was nerves,” she said, “but it gave us determination to step up. We weren’t done with it yet.”

After floor, DeLisle said the team took a turn for the better.

The following three events —– vault, uneven bars and balance beam – improved and DeLisle said the team ranked well with the other teams in those events.

A number of gymnasts scored well in other events. Senior Theresa Lynch took the highest places for the Blugolds on the uneven bars and the balance beam. She took third overall with a 9.050 and fifth overall with 8.925, respectively.

On vault, which DeLisle had said is currently the best event for the Lady ‘Golds this season in a previous article, sophomore Sarah Hulbert took fourth place with a career best of 9.200.

Friday night’s meet went well for Ritsche, who scored career highs on two events, balance beam and the uneven bars. She also scored fourth place in the all-around.

Ritsche said she had been working hard for that and said it is nice to have a confidence booster.

“It was an amazing feeling,” she said. “It gave me hope for the meets to come.”

DeLisle said that Friday night’s meet was better than previous meets this season. But she does hope for the better next time.

“I want to win, flat out,” she said. “I want to put a W on the board finally.”

Despite the trouble at the meet, DeLisle added that she thinks the hard times will help the team to improve.

“I think in the end, it will make them stronger, anytime you have adversity, (they have) to be tough mentally, physically,” she said. “I think we have that same philosophy.”

Regardless, the team still has a way to go, she said.

“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re definitely making strides that way,” she said. “We’re getting there quicker than before.”

Ritsche said that for the next meet, she would like all the team members to hit at least one event each.

“I’m hoping as a team we can stick together and have a positive attitude.”