Advertisement
This season, two of them are sharing the same title. Junior Jackie LaFleur and sophomore Gabi Hooper, along with UW-Oshkosh’s Vanessa Virbitsky, finished in a three-way tie for first on the vault at the NCGA Division III Championships in 2007.
 |
UW-La Crosse's Jackie LaFleur flips over the vault at the Gershon/McLellan Invitational gymnastics meet at UW-L.
Erik Daily |
Perish any thoughts of intramural squabbling, however. LaFleur and Hooper, who are both from New Brighton, Minn., but went to different high schools, only push each other in positive ways when it comes to vaulting in practice and meets.
Hooper (9.525) and LaFleur (9.25) finished second and seventh, respectively, on the vault Friday as UW-La Crosse (185.425) won the four-team Gershon/McLellan Invitational at Mitchell Hall.
Erin Sommer led the Eagles with a meet-record 9.75 on the balance beam, good for first place, and first place in the all-around (37.225). Kasey Clausen hit a career-best 9.65 to win the uneven bars for the second straight meet.
UW-L coach Barb Gibson said she’s never had to worry about problems between LaFleur and Hooper.
“That overcompetitiveness or ‘I don’t want her to do well on my event’ dynamic isn’t there,” Gibson said. “It doesn’t exist, it’s nowhere to be found.”
What is to be found is a positive relationship that keeps LaFleur and Hooper energized in practice.
“It’s not so much competitive as it is that we help each other out,” LaFleur said. “We both have opposite strength. Mine is form and hers is blocking (body position). I look to her for inspiration from her strengths and I hope she does the same with me.”
Said Hooper: “The biggest motivator is really just getting better every meet. We want to do better (on the vault) so that the team does better.”
LaFleur and Hooper both use a high-difficulty vault, technically called a handspring double-full, that Gibson said is so unique they might be the only two vaulters in Division III who try it.
That leads to confused judges sometimes, but LaFleur and Hooper know when they’ve done it right or not.
“Sometimes it’s scored high, sometimes low, so I don’t take the scores to heart,” LaFleur said. “I’ll watch the tape Monday.”
If LaFleur and Hooper bring their best vaults to the national meet again this spring — and hit them in front of educated judges — there’s a good chance one or both could repeat as champion.
“Last year is definitely in the past and we’re in the here and now,” LaFleur said. “The focus is on bettering this year’s team.”
Sommer’s beam routine broke the old record of 9.7, shared by UW-L’s Jamie Kubash (1998) and Southeast Missouri’s Sandra Blake (2007).
“I’ve been waiting to hit that,” said Sommer, whose season high coming in was 9.025. “It was definitely the best beam routine I’ve done in college. Hopefully I can use that and go from there.”
Joel Badzinski can be reached at (608) 791-8402 or joel.badzinski@lee.net
