They’re the No. 2 ranked team in the country, they’re back at Nationals looking to defend their title, and they have three champions returning to the big stage in Grace Kehr, Claire Robbins, and Raina Christenson.
The UW-La Crosse gymnastics team is in Cortland, New York, for the NCGA National Championships. The team has shaken off travel and hit the practice mats at SUNY Cortland already on Thursday. Competition officially kicks off at 1 p.m. Friday inside the Whitney T. Corey Gymnasium.
The Eagles aren’t just bringing a deep roster to New York; they’re bringing serious hardware. Along with the returning national champions in Kehr (vault) and the duo of Robbins and Christenson (balance beam), the squad features several athletes who stood on the podium last year. Paige Breckwoldt returns after a third-place finish on the vault, and Sarah Best is back after tying for third on the uneven parallel bars in 2025.
While the Eagles are the reigning champs, they face a massive three-way tug-of-war for the trophy. UWL enters as the second seed, sandwiched between top-ranked UW-Oshkosh and a dangerous UW-Whitewater squad at No. 3.
A win on Friday would extend UWL’s NCGA record to 19 team championships. Head Coach Kasey Crawford—who has won titles as an Eagle gymnast, assistant, and head coach—is looking to keep that momentum rolling after last year’s dominant 194.925 team performance.
The Eagles averaged a 192.198 this season, with a season-high 193.150 coming back in January. With Oshkosh and Whitewater in the mix, they’ll likely need to push those numbers to ensure the trophy returns to the Coulee Region.
