In front of a packed McPhee Strength and Performance Center Friday night, the UW-Eau Claire gymnastics team won four events against Hamline University (Minn.) with a 182.225-177.325 victory.

“I was really proud of everybody because we kept up high energy all night,” senior gymnast Olivia Aschenbrenner said. “Everyone kept positive and we were able to bring it all together in the end.”

The Blugolds came out of the gate slow in the vault event, but it was smooth sailing from there as they had strong performances in the uneven bars, beam and floor.

Head coach Jean De Lisle said she felt her girls did a great job rallying together as a team.

“We had some great performances but also had a few too many slip ups,” she said. “I feel they did do a great job letting go of the mistakes and really focused on what they had to do in order to stay strong and recover some of the tenths that had been forfeited.”

Seven Eau Claire gymnasts placed in the top three of their individual events. Sophomores Julia Stedman, Elizabeth Stubbs and Leah Robinette placed first in vault, floor and bars, respectively. Aschenbrenner finished first on the beam as well.

Sophomore Kellie Dougherty said she believes the team has hit their stride at this point of the season.

“We have definitely started to find our stride at this point of the season,” Dougherty said. “Although we still have room for improvement, we have figured out how to compete with and support each other during competition.”

The team came out strong on the uneven bars behind Robinette who finished with a score of 9.325 to claim first place.

The beam event followed and Aschenbrenner completed a nearly perfect routine, receiving a 9.500 score from the judges.

Stubbs finished the night with a score of 9.600 in floor, the event De Lisle said she thought was the Blugolds’ strongest by far.

“We finished on floor, and that was our strongest event,” De Lisle said. “That tells me that their mental toughness really helped carry them through the night.”

Although this was the Blugolds first overall team victory of the season, they have continued to keep the spirits high and work hard to get better every day.

“Nerves have played a bit of a roll I think in the mistakes that were made,” De Lisle said. “That has to stop if we want to make it all the way to Nationals, which I feel this team is capable of.”

The Blugolds next meet is at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.).

“What we could improve upon most would be our overall confidence,” Dougherty said. “We have the skills to be a contender for Nationals, we just have to be able to go out and compete like we practice.”