UW Oshkosh gymnastics suffered a close loss against UW-Lacrosse on Feb. 3, taking their first conference defeat of the season.

The Titans lost to the Eagles 192-188.6 by a narrow margin of just 3.4 points.

Gymnast Reanna McGibboney competed in the vault, bars, and floor events; scoring a 9.65, 8.9, and 8.925 respectively. Reflecting on the meet, she said that the team did well in the face of competition.

“I think the team performed very well,” she said. “Especially with some adversity we have dealt with throughout this week.”

McGibboney said that despite the loss, the team will continue to be positive looking towards the future.

“As a team moving forward,” she said. “We are going to keep up the positive energy and hard work that we have been showing both inside and outside of the gym. We are super excited to see what the rest of the season will bring.”

Emily Buffington was in the beam and floor events, scoring a 9.15 and 8.825 respectively. Buffington said the team suffered from not having all of their athletes.

“We only had five people on the floor event,” she said. “We would usually have six, and two people, including me, fell. If we had her [the extra teammate] in there it would have made the difference, as we could have dropped one of our fall scores.”

Buffington is a Junior and a member of last year’s national team. After last season’s success, the team is trying to work itself out of last year’s shadow.

“We’re really trying to match last year’s energy but it’s hard,” she said. This is a new team so we have to find our own energy, but we would really like to become repeats.”

Buffington’s part in helping her team become a repeater is going to be a mental effort.

“I want to be more consistent and have more confidence,” she said. “That will just improve everything that we’re doing on the mats.”

UWO gymnastics will return Feb. 10, facing off against Hamline University in an away meet. The next two meets on Feb. 16 and Feb. 24 will both be hosted by the Titans.

“We have two home meets after Hamline,” said Buffington. “We’re looking forward to it, and we’re also looking forward to hosting the conference.”