After defeating last year’s defending national champions last week, the gymnastics team stayed perfect with a win over Winona State Friday.

They will put their undefeated record to the test at 2 p.m. Feb. 12 when they host UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout at home.

Against Winonan State, the Warhawks led after one rotation, posting a team score of 46.40 on the vault.  This score ranks 30th in the school’s record book.

The gymnasts who made the record books include senior Katrin Finch, juniors Katie Thompson and Siri Wischmann, sophomore Kaitlyn Weber and freshman Cici Talcott.

“We are behind each other every step,” Talcott said. “We push each other and believe in each other.”

By the end of the second and third rotation, Winona State had pulled within three points.  The ’Hawks finished with a strong performance on the floor and beat the Warriors 182.175-177.05.

“We are really strong on the floor,” Talcott said. “It is one of the events we have the most fun in.”

Talcott had the best floor exercise score at 9.425.

The ’Hawks took first place in all-around competition and first in all four specialty events.  Thompson won both the vault and the beam with a score of 9.475.  She also won the all-around title with 37.15 points.  Talcott took first place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.425 and first place on the uneven bars with a 9.25.

The ’Hawks have had meets both home and away, but by the end of the season they will have hosted five of seven meets.

“Preseason was helpful,” Finch said. “The team being together early has led to success.”

Finch said the ’Hawks have enjoyed the early season success, but they know it is a long way to nationals.

“Each person has a skill they are working on to add to their routines before nationals,” Finch said. “There is room to improve, but we have reachable goals.  We know what we need to do to be ready by nationals.”