KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan gymnastics team kicked off the season with a convincing victory in a tri-meet against Illinois State and Wisconsin Oshkosh on Sunday afternoon at University Arena.
The Broncos topped the leaderboard in four of the five individual events and all four team events. WMU finished with a score of 194.875, 2.05 points ahead of ISU and 4.475 ahead of the UWO. Cassie St. Clair was the top performer on vault with a score of 9.850, Sarah Moravansky won the uneven bars with a score of 9.850, Donnakathryn Roy won the floor with a score of 9.875 and Dani Petrousek claimed the all-around with a score of 38.950. As a team, the Broncos turned in a score of 48.550 on vault, 48.875 on bars, 48.700 on beam and 48.750 on floor.
WMU opened on vault with Petrousek and Halle Faulkner as part of a four-way tie for second place with Jaye Mack from Illinois State and Mia Lucero from UW-Oshkosh at 9.725. St.Clair had the event-high score as the Broncos' final competitor.
Western Michigan switched to the uneven bars for the second rotation, with Moravansky just edging out teammate Breckin Quoss for the top place. Quoss finished tied with ISU's Angelica Labat for second place with a score of 9.825. Petrousek finished in fourth with a 9.800.
The Redbirds' Madison Kipp was the top finisher on beam with a score of 9.850, but after that it was four straight Broncos. Amanda Gruber took second at 9.825, Payton Murphy in third at 9.755 and Ronni Binstock and Gigi Singh finished tied for fourth with a score of 9.725.
Petrousek won a tight battle in the all-around, edging out Illinois State's Labat by .075. Moravansky took third with a score of 38.675.
The Broncos finished the meet taking the top three spots on floor. Roy edged out teammates Petrousek and Murphy, who tied for second with a score of 9.850.
Western Michigan heads to Illinois State to take on the Redbirds again next Sunday at 3 p.m. EST.
