Royal Purple

Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Alison Wisneski Warhawk freshman Justine Weyer performs on the uneven bars in Saturday's win against SUNY-Brockport. ?The gymnast broke the school's record for the all-around at the meet.

The Warhawk gymnastics team collected a 184.050-181.275 victory against State University of New York in Brockport on an unforgettable Saturday at the Williams Center.

Feb. 2 was declared Lisa Mueller Day by the team, and many students and alumni donated funds to support the former Warhawk gymnast. Mueller, who participated with the 'Hawks from 2000-2004, was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a type of cancer.

"I can't thank [Head Coach] Jen White enough for doing this for me," Mueller said. "It's so nice that they took the time to putting all of this together."

Mueller was amazed with the turnout and has never seen so many fans at a Warhawk gymnastic meet during her four years with the team. After watching the Warhawks defeat SUNY-Brockport, she was impressed by the team's performance.

"There really wasn't that many people here when I did gymnastics, so I think it was awesome," Mueller said. "All of us alumnae were complimenting the team. They look a lot better than we were, and they just keep getting better and better every year."

Freshman Justine Weyer had a phenomenal performance and broke the school record in the all-around event with a score of 38.275. The lineup of Weyer, Ginelle Galub, Alison Lewis, Ashley George and Kira Fedyniak topped the school's balance beam record with a team score of 46.500.

"Beam is one of our hardest events, but we were able to stay focused and stay positive," White said.

While records were broken, $934 was raised for Mueller at Saturday's meet. White said winning the meet was a victory, but supporting Mueller was also a win because it helped the program become more united.

"[The meet] was very emotional," White said. "[Mueller] talked to the team beforehand and a lot of them got really choked up. I think they realized what this gymnastic family is all about."

"They don't really know her, but they care for her. We're all just really excited that we were able to raise some money for her, and a lot of alumni were here to show support," White added.

UW-Whitewater will try to break even more records when it takes on UW-La Crosse Friday at 7 p.m. in the Williams Center.

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