The River Falls Wildcats gymnastics team earned a big victory in their last triangular of the season on Tuesday night in River Falls.

It was a good night for the Wildcats who won in all five categories, but as the Big Rivers Conference season wraps up, they know the real challenges still lie ahead.

The conference championship is coming up on Feb. 17, and although River Falls won it 15 of the past 20 years, they will not be adding on to that win total this year, unfortunately.

The standings in gymnastics are determined by cumulative points earned over the course of the conference season, and Menomonie, the Big Rivers leading scorer, is too far ahead to make bringing home that particular banner a possibility at this point, even if they win the conference championship meet on the 17th. 

Gymnastics scoring is different than a lot of sports in that it takes a competitor’s personal score and tallies that with the rest of the team’s scores to come up with a group score, and these team scores then form a running total throughout the season. This means a team can win the conference meet at the end of the season, but still lose the championship based on overall points. Nevertheless, the Wildcats’ sweeping victory in Tuesday’s last triangular shows that this team will be competitive in the post season and has a lot to look forward to.

With the postseason right around the corner, River Falls finds themselves chasing the crowning achievement of winning at state once again, something they have yet to do, despite their longevity of success. The first step to getting there will come at the sectional meet where they will look to move forward as a team.

Only the top two teams at each stop move on, and only the top five gymnasts not on those advancing teams will move on as individual competitors. Astonishingly, the River Falls program advanced through sectionals and on to state for 22 consecutive years, a streak that just ended in 2022.

Gymnastics meets consist of five events: Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor and All-Around, which is an athlete who competes in all events at the varsity level. Athletes can compete in one or all at their meets, and they can do so at a varsity level, a junior varsity level, or a combination of both if they are able to qualify and compete at the varsity level in one event but at the junior varsity level in another.

Head Coach Bridgette Lensing says the Wildcat philosophy is that if you are capable and able to, and they have spots available, gymnasts will compete in all events. She says that while their team is smaller than usual this year, the girls are committed and are ready for postseason competition.

“We have a very small team this year, so numbers are not in our favor. Sickness and injury can really affect a small team if you don’t have the extra numbers to fill in when spots need to be filled in,” Lensing said. “However, we have been very fortunate in our small numbers to have a group of girls that work very hard and are really dedicated to their team and are ready, willing and able to step in and step up when needed.”

After the conference tournament at home on the 17^th, the Wildcats will travel to sectionals in West Salem on Feb. 24. If they are one of the top two teams yet again, they will move on to the state competition, which is held on March 1 and 2 in Wisconsin Rapids. The team portion of state competition is held on Friday, and the individual competition is on Saturday.

For a team that is known for doing more with less, Coach Lensing is extremely proud of the girls’ accomplishments and has high hopes for a 23rd trip to state in the past 24 years.

“Our team has really strived to be better than we would have expected while only having seven individuals, but their commitment, hard work and ability to bond as a team I think has allowed us to do as much as we have,” Lensing said. “Our hope is that at our sectional meet we can have one of our top performances and earn a trip to state as a team and possibly some individual spots too.”

Most high school athletic programs don’t have the luxury or ability to continue to repeat the high level of success that River Falls has enjoyed year in year out for over two decades. Even so, losing talented seniors always has an effect on a team, especially one this small where they carry a lot of the load and take on that ever important leadership role.

This year the Wildcats are losing Evie Carlson, Rachel Everson and Rylee Sabelko. As seniors, these three shoulder much of the extra load for one of River Falls’ smaller teams, but Sabelko says this has actually helped to make their team stronger.

“We're a lot closer as a team. There's a lot less drama, and a lot more pushing each other to be our best,” Sabelko said. “I think today showed a lot of just our highs and lows, what we need to work on, but also kind of where we really did excel. We had two girls get personal bests, so it really showed them, I think, what level that they can be at. We also had a fall on the bars, so that was kind of hard. It's just something that happens, though, and we know what we’re capable of.”

Carlson agrees and says that everyone needing to pull their weight and do a little bit of everything has made them a more well-rounded team and given them confidence, a lot of which she says comes from the consistent leadership of their coaches.

“When you look around, I’ve noticed that we're so confident in what we do. I feel like that's a part of what helps us be how great we can be, and I honestly think that comes from the coaches. They push us hard and remind us every day that confidence is key,” Carlson said. “I also think we really feed off each other's energy. Like when one person gets really into it on the floor, the rest of us kind of feel their energy, and it just builds up throughout the lineup.”

Coach Lensing says the hope is to have one of their top performances at sectionals and, in doing so, earn a trip to state as a team and possibly some individual spots too.

“Our team has really strived to be better than we would have expected with only seven individuals on the team, but their commitment, hard work and ability to bond as a team has allowed us to do as much as we have,” Lensing said. “I do not see us bringing in first place at sectionals. West Salem has always had a really solid team, they also have large numbers this year, but I think that second place spot is definitely something we are capable of doing. We have a couple of teams that, depending on how things fall, could get second, but I think if we do what we’re capable of doing, it should be a spot that we're able to take advantage of.”

The conference championship is this Saturday in River Falls at 11 a.m. where the Wildcats will look to build momentum and head into the postseason with back-to-back wins.