By Dan Truttschel/Sports Correspondent
Even without a full lineup, the Westosha Central-Union Grove gymnastics team appears to be on a mission.
Competing at the inaugural Middleton Gymnastics Invitational Saturday, the Falcons posted a solid third-place effort in the nine-team event.
Middleton won the team title with a 140.050, followed by Madison Memorial with a 138.950, Westosha with a 137.925, Verona-Edgewood with a 130.075 and Sun Prairie with a 127.825.
Putting together solid efforts on the mat isn’t the team’s only motivation, coach Bill Price said.
It appears that next year, the Central and Union Grove gymnasts will join Kenosha, which isn’t something either really wants to do, he said.
“Again, our gymnasts have shown the school and the community that we are a strong gymnastics program, and we have to wonder why we need to co-op with Kenosha when we are beating teams that are better than us,” Price said.
“We are competing now to show the school that we want to stand alone and be who we are.”
Devan Green led the Fal-cons, as she led the team in scoring. Green was fourth on the floor (9.075), sixth on the beam (9.950), ninth on the vault (8.70), 12th on the uneven bars (8.10) and sixth in the all-around (34.825).
The other top individual effort came from Lexie Biggs, who was eighth all-around (34.325). Biggs placed sixth on the floor (8.975), seventh on the uneven bars (8.425) and the beam (8.725) and 22nd on the vault (8.20).
Central also had four personal-best efforts turned in by Cassity Beth on the bars (7.625), Madi Hansen on the beam (8.3), Allie Miller on the vault (8.45) and Autumn Elfering on the beam (7.75).
The Falcons opened the week Feb. 6 with a 127.725-112.95 Southern Lakes Conference dual meet win over Elkhorn.
Central is back in action Thursday night when it competes at Burlington Combined at 6:30 p.m. The Demons and Falcons both enter the meet 3-0 in the SLC.
Falcons drop three
The past week was a tough one for the Central girls basketball team, as it fell three times to run its current losing streak to six.
Central lost 59-37 Feb. 3 to visiting Delavan-Darien, 50-45 in overtime Feb. 6 to visiting Elkhorn and 48-31 Feb. 7 at Union Grove.
The Falcons took a 4-11 overall record and a 1-8 SLC mark into a home game Tues-day against Wilmot.
Against Union Grove, the Broncos led 24-12 at halftime and never looked back. Union Grove iced the game with a 16-8 advantage in the third quarter.
Brienna Bostanche led Central with nine points, followed by Madi Stanczak with seven and Jaela McGill with six.
McGill poured in a game-high 21 points in the loss to Elkhorn last Thursday night. Bostanche was next with eight, followed by Megan Ziesmann with six and Mackenzie Myers with four.
In the opening game of the week, a 15-5 second quarter by visiting Delavan-Darien was the difference in the 22-point loss.
Central is back in action Friday night when it travels to Delavan-Darien to face the Comets.