Great Stuff at Nationals!

Ithaca College hosted the NCGA National Championships on March 22nd and 23rd in a showcase of some of the best gymnastics that Division III has to offer. The field of teams qualifying to the championships was closer than it has ever been before. The team rankings coming into the meet did not accurately reflect the strength of the teams in the Midwest Region, specially UW-La Crosse and Gustavus Adolphus. Even though the top four teams in the East where also ranked as the top four teams in the country, they would still need to get past the defending national champion Eagles of La Crosse. In the end, not even a 24 for 24 performance from the East Regional Champion SUNY-Cortland Red Dragons was enough to topple over the defending champs. The Eagles defended their championship mainly on the strength of their bars line-up which outdistanced itself from the rest of the pack by one full point and more than two points better than Cortland. As a team, La Crosse won bars and floor and Cortland won vault and beam and the final overall team scores where as follows: UW-La Crosse with a new NCGA record 184.925, Cortland 183.175, Gustavus Adolphus College 182.55, Ursinus College 182.525, Ithaca College 181.725, Springfield College 180.075, Hamline University 176.10 and UW-River Falls 172.60.

La Crosse put together the best meet of their season to finish ahead of the pack. The battle from 2-8 was determined by the teams that hit the most routines. Hamline and UW-River Falls struggled a bit through the meet and it showed on their final score which was not a clear indication of their talent or capability, but it was for their performances on that night. Amanda Parker from Gustavus showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with for the next 3 years winning the all-around competition as a first-year student-athlete with a 37.70. Senior Jumaah Johnson from Ursinus put together a wonderful meet to take second at 37.35 and similarly, junior Carrie Costello from Cortland accumulated a 37.275 for third place. Defending national champion Melissa Stanton '04 from Hamline finished 6th with a 36.875.

The event finals on Saturday where an outstanding example of how far the NCGA has come over the last few years. The top 12 vaulters went into finals within .25 of each other from a 9.25 to a 9.5. Bars is the event where there is more disparity with a range from 8.95-9.5 but beam was a phenomenal 9.525-9.7 range and floor a 9.475-9.675. Gustie Amanda Parker '05 took home the vault title with a two day total of 19.15 narrowly missing the longest standing NCGA record of 19.20 by Renee Counard of Oshkosh in 1991. Piper Melissa Stanton '04 successfully defended her uneven bars crown with a 19.05. Danin Squires '04 from Cortland took the gold on beam with a 19.50 breaking a three year old mark of 19.45 set by Katie Kortuem of Gustavus. Lastly, it was Bear senior Jumaah Johnson who capped a wonderful NCGA career by winning the floor exercise with a 19.20. The Outstanding Senior Award, which is the highest recognition given by the NCGA as voted by the coaches, was awarded to Ellie Roscher of Gustavus Adolphus. Eduardo Ovalle of MIT was recongnized as the 2002 NCGA Coach of the Year. Lastly, the 2003 Championships were awarded to UW-Eau Claire and they will be held on March 28th and 29th, 2003 and the 2004 Championships will go to MIT on April 2nd and 3rd of 2004.