ECAC/East Regional Preview

Buckle your seatbelts.  This year's ECAC/East Regional Championship promises to be a nail-biting experience unlike any other year we've seen in Division III.  Heading into last year, the rankings showed Ithaca on top, followed by Cortland and Ursinus.  Cortland pulled out the meet on the strength of their team beam on the last rotation.  This year, the rankings are exactly the same going in - Ithaca, Cortland and Ursinus, and Cortland is not only the defending champion, but they are also hosting the Championships.

The Championships will take place on Friday, March 14th at 1:00 pm in Cortland, NY and the battle for the team crown seems to come down to those three teams.  Ithaca College has posted the highest score in the NCGA this year with a school record 186.225.  Cortland reached 186.00 and Ursinus also set a new school mark with a 185.875.  That means that these teams are not only capable of scoring high, but they are very evenly matched.  Ithaca has beaten Cortland at all three of their meetings this year, but none of those wins happened at Cortland.  Each team is stock full of talented returning gymnasts as well as newcomers who have made big impacts already.  Ursinus possesses defending all-around champion Kristen Grimmel who is a sophomore and is once again leading the all-around rankings coming into the meet.  The new school all-around record does not belong to Grimmel though, it belongs to freshman Megan Hollern at 37.925.  Cortland has three returning all-americans in Kristen Marzello (vault), Carrie Costello (aa, beam) and defending ECAC and National Beam Champion Danin Squires (aa, beam).  Add to that freshman Lindsay Marranca who set a new school mark of 37.825 in the all-around and the Red Dragons are looking tough.  Ithaca also has a core of returning veterans led by Leslie Gelatt and Rachel Edelson and two strong freshman in Stephanie Smith and Krystal Kaminski who just returned to the line-up last month to give the Bombers a boost.

Believe it or not, as close as the three team battle for the ECAC title can be, there will be a four team war for the last remaining qualifying spot to the NCGA Championships that could be even closer.  The current rankings show Brockport (181.9813), Springfield (181.9250), MIT (180.4813) and Rhode Island College (180.4313).  By season high score, it is Springfield (183.525), Brockport (183.125), Rhode Island College (182.750) and MIT (182.025).  Springfield has only beaten RIC and lost to both Brockport and MIT.  RIC has only beaten MIT, and MIT has beaten Brockport twice.  What does this all mean?  It basically means that anything can happen and it probably will.  Brockport is a young team led by junior Carrie Santore and sophomore Jordan Christiano.  They have received great contributions from freshman Krsitin Sheerin on beam and floor, and they have the strongest vault team in the East.  Springfield is always tough, and carrying the torch are veterans Jenny Romano-Joseph and Trisha Talerico.  Currently, the Pride are ranked second on vault and floor as a team.  MIT has the youngest team in the conference with three freshman and three sophomores accounting for 20 of their 24 routines.  All-American Merritt Tam is back to lead the Engineers in her sophomore season and junior Cindy Chung has emerged as the leader on both floor and vault.  Freshman Francesca DeMeo has had a big impact on bars (currently ranked third), beam and floor as a solid competitor.  RIC has quietly put together a very impressive year and find themselves in the middle of the race.  Sophomore Ashley O'Blenis has led this team from the start of the season and veterans Shannon Hughey and Caren Normandin have received great contributions from newcomer Staci Freedman to keep the ball rolling.

Last but not least is the team from Wilson College.  Wilson is by far the most improved team in the NCGA.  They started by setting a new school record in their first meet of the season at 165.25 and they have climbed all the way to a 175.30.  Freshman Sarah Massey has re-written the record books for the Phoenix, and if they can add a couple of more gymnasts like her, this team will be in contention in the not too distant future. Sarah Massey should be involved in the battle for the all-around competition.  The field is stronger than ever with Kristen Grimmel and Megan Hollern from Ursinus, Nancy Patterson from Ithaca, Jenny Romano-Joseph from Springfield, Lindsay Marranca and Danin Squires from Cortland,  Caren Normandin and Ashley O'Blenis from RIC, Merritt Tam, Jennifer Sauchuk and Ashley Rothenberg from MIT and Brockport's trio of Carrie Santore, Jordan Christiano and Lindsay Margenthaler.  All in all it promises to be an incredible competition.