2002-2003 NCGA Preview

While we are still in shock an mourning the loss of the UW-River Falls program being eliminated, the remaining schools prepare for the upcoming competitive season.  Not all schools have submitted their season outlook, but most have, so what follows is partly based on fact and partly based on everyone's favorite pastime: speculation.

In the EAST - Defending Regional Champion, the Red Dragons from SUNY-Cortland will be very difficult to beat.  They graduated just one senior in Jamie Leto and they added a deep class of talented first-year students led by Lindsay Marranca and Luisa Gutierrez, both level 10s from NY.  With Carrie Costello '03 (3rd AA, 2nd V and BB at nationals) and Danin Squires '04 (5th AA, Beam Champion) leading the way and with coach Gary Babjack having them hit 24 for 24 as they did at Regionals and Nationals, this will be the team to watch throughout the year.  Behind Cortland, it seems to be wide open.  Ursinus graduated a phenomenal class including Jumaah Johnson, Casey Aivazian and Christina Ng, but they do still have defending Regional All-Around Champion, Kristen Grimmel as well as Jennifer Fouse who led the vault rankings most of the year.  Coach Jeff Sheppers indicates that this is a rebuilding year for his program, but we'll have to take that with a grain of salt.  Ursinus adds three gymnasts to their squad, but two of them are recovering from summer ankle injuries.  Ithaca is always tough, and even with the departure of Jocelyn Genoa, Sabrina Kuhn and Amy Hanson, this team always find a way to be near the top.  Among their incoming class they have Krystal Kaminski, a level 9 Regional Champion on floor and vault, Rebecca Greenwald and Jessica Ronsenberg.  The Springfield College Pride can never be counted out either.  They lost  four top contributors including Gina Gutierrez and Tricia Talarico to graduation, but their incoming class boasts 4 level 10s in Brianna Jeffords, Danielle Terabacy, Larissa Tabin and Laura Nadamia. SUNY-Brockport will miss the contributions from Jen Auleta on the competition floor because of injuries this year, but they did not lose anyone from their 5th place finishing team at Regionals.  They'll count on strong contributions from last year's national qualifiers, Jordan Christiano and Carrie Santore.  They still have Jessica Bowman and have also added a deep class of first-year students.  Long time assistant Steve Flemming has left the team and he will be missed.  MIT is also on the up and up with an incoming class of three quality gymnasts, Jennifer Sauchuk, Francesca DeMeo and Chandler Hatton. Add to that the return of 2nd place regional all-arounder Merritt Tam and, although not quite deep enough yet, this will still be the best team that the Tech has ever had.  Rhode Island College will also return all of their major contributors from last year including Shannon Hughey and Caren Normandin.  The loss of their assistant coach, Tim O'Leary will be felt, but they also have a strong incoming class plus a transfer that will strengthen their line-up.  Another team on the up and up is Wilson College.  All of their competitors return from last year and they add a couple of level 9s in Michelle Bourque and Sara Massey.

This year's season in the East Region promises to be closer than ever before while all the teams keep improving and reaching higher scores.  There will be an early season showdown on January 18th at MIT which will include Wilson, Ursinus and Ithaca.  In February, Brockport and Ithaca will host their Invitationals with many of the schools in attendance.  The ECAC/Regional Championship will be hosted by Cortland on March 16th, 2003, and, if all the teams can stay relatively healthy, it should be a nail-biter of a meet.

In the MIDWEST - Haven't heard much from the defending National Champion Eagles from UW-La Crosse, but this team always seems to put it all together when it counts the most.  They'll certainly miss Jenny Moore and Tricia Clark among their graduating seniors, but they still have outstanding gymnasts such as Angela Erato, Michelle Saxton and more than likely a strong incoming class which will make them very tough again.  Let us not forget that it was the Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College who won the Midwest Regional Championships and that defending All-Around National Champions Amanda Parker is only a sophomore.  Coach Kris Glidden reports that they have 14 returning letter-winners as well as 6 incoming freshman hoping to make the line-up and improve on last year's third place team finish at Nationals. UW-Stout is looking forward to a strong season with veteran leadership from senior Tasha Pasch and senior transfer Tiffany Reber.  Tiffany comes over from the River Falls program for an opportunity to compete her senior year.  Along with returning letter-winners, coach Jeff Richards welcomes the largest incoming class that Stout has seen in a long time.  The class of 7 includes pleasant surprises Rhian Paulson and Cassie Johnston.  Kerrie Beach at UW-Oshkosh reports that her team has also improved by virtue of some key returnees and an incoming class of 6.  3-time All-American in 2002 Jennie Williams returns as a senior to lead the team along with Melissa Cummins who was National Vault Champion in 2001 but sat out most of 2002 with injuries.  Adding to their already deep team is a class that includes Brianna Lentz, who could potentially be their best all-arounder.  Hamline University is another team to watch out for.  They lost an outstanding gymnast in Melissa Stanton who transferred to Division II Seattle Pacific University, but they still have a lot of talent returning.  UW-Whitewater may show the effects of a coaching change at the helm with NCGA/Springfield College alum Jennifer White taking over the program.  Jen reports that the team is progressing along nicely, and with a healthy April Hubmann, this team should be as strong or stronger than last year.  UW-Eau Claire will be the host of this year's NCGA Championships and with that as incentive and a couple of River Falls transfers added in the mix, this could be a break out year for that program.  On top of running the program and preparing for nationals, coach Lisa McIntyre just gave birth to her first child Alina.

From the sounds of it, the competition in the Midwest will be as intense as the competition in the East, which should  make for an extraordinary national competition.  With every team closing the gap, it's hard to predict what is going to happen.  What we do know is that Division III gymnastics in 2003 will be a lot of fun to watch.