Titans Win Fourth Straight WIAC Championship, Buffington Sets Uneven Bars Record
ST. PAUL, Minn.- For the fourth consecutive year, the UW-Oshkosh women's gymnastics team is the WIAC/National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) West Champion (presented by Culver's). This year's meet was hosted by Hamline University at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
The Titans scored 192.875 points to win the meet, with 48.525 on the uneven bars, 47.575 on the balance beam, 48.400 on the floor exercise and 48.375 on the vault. Their bars score led all eight teams competing on Saturday and their floor score was tied for the highest with UW-La Crosse.
With the win, Oshkosh earned one of the conference's two automatic bids to the NCGA Championship, which will be held on Mar. 23 on the campus of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. The meet will begin at 2 p.m. eastern time in the Bears' Helfferich Hall.
The top-six finishers on each event earned All-WIAC honors.
UW-Whitewater was awarded with the WIAC's second automatic bid after the Warhawks finished second with 192.275 points. UW-La Crosse finished third with 192.175 points, UW-Stout took fourth with 190.775, Winona State University (Minn.) took fifth with 188.125, UW-Eau Claire took sixth with 187.050, Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) took seventh with 186.300 and Hamline took eighth with a 183.350.
Emily Buffington (Sr. • Huntersville, N.C.) won the all-around for the second-straight year with a total score of 38.400 points. She scored 9.900 points on the uneven bars, 9.675 on the balance beam, 9.125 on the floor exercise and 9.700 on the vault.
The Titans were in the second flight as the No. 2 seed in the meet and started on the uneven bars. With a conference championship and program record score of 9.900 points, Buffington won the event. Sam Zeilinger (Jr. • Wheaton, Ill.) finished seventh with a 9.700 and Amaya McConkay (So. • Broken Arrow, Okla.) took 11th with 9.650 points.
Buffington also led Oshkosh on the beam, scoring 9.675 points, which were good for third place. Delaney Cienkus (Jr. • Plainfield, Ill.) was the next-highest scorer by totaling 9.650 points for sixth while Kaylie Berens (Sr. • Golden, Colo.) registered a 9.625 to grab ninth.
Cienkus and Mia Lucero (Jr. • Bolingbrook, Ill.) each recorded a 9.750 to take second on the floor exercise. Jay Ratkowski (Fr. • Franklin) took ninth with 9.675 points, followed with a 9.625 by Aleah Radojevich (So. • Chicago, Ill.).
On the vault, the final event of the day for UW-Oshkosh, Lucero finished with 9.800 points to earn her second place while Reanna McGibboney (So. • Chester Springs, Pa.) took third with a 9.775. Buffington's 9.700 earned her sixth on the event.
The Titans will make an appearance at the NCGA Championship for the fourth meet in a row on Saturday, March 23. The 2020 and 2021 national championships were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo Credit: Caleb Williams, d3photography.com