Fly Eagles Fly...
UW-Eau Claire hosted the NCGA National Championships on March 28th and 29th at McPhee Physical Education Center. The field was strong and evenly matched as we have come to realize over the years that the national rankings by score are not an accurate reflection of the parity between the East and Midwest regions. SUNY-Cortland came in as the East Region Champion for the second year in a row and UW-La Crosse returned as the Midwest Champion after a year of lending the title to Gustavus Adolphus. As it turned out, this meet would be a showdown of these two teams.
As fate would have it, La Crosse would follow Cortland around. Both teams began on beam and Cortland went first on flight A while La Crosse competed in flight B. The Red Dragons have been outstanding on beam, led by defending national champion Danin Squires '04. On this night though, they had to fight for every little thing. Cortland did not hit beam, but they did not give it away. Everybody wobbled, but only one routine fell and they started the meet with a 46.15. La Crosse suffered a similar fate with more misses than we've come to expect from them and managing only a 44.975 on the event. Cortland attacked floor with strong routines, but senior Carrie Costello and newcomer Lindsey Marranca lost a tenth each for stepping out of bounds. Nevertheless, the Red Dragons posted a solid 47.95. La Crosse's Jenna Houle gave one of those tenths back as she too stepped out of bounds, but the officials liked the Eagles routines better as they amassed a meet high 48.275 to close the gap 94.10 to 93.25. The Red Dragons showed some superiority on vault, as they displayed some great Yurchenko vaults as a well as a couple of handspring fronts. Their 46.05 total was good enough to win the event and pad the distance between them and La Crosse. The Eagles vaulted to a 44.625 total on a day when vault scores where hard to come by and the gap opened up to more than 2 points - 140.15 to 137.875. Cortland's coach, Gary Babjack, was quoted as saying that he felt that they would need to score a 44.0 or better on bars at this meet in order to have a chance to win. The Red Dragons only missed one bar routine, but scores had been low all day and they had to settle for a 43.625. So it came down to the last rotation and whether La Crosse could hit bars which they had not hit as a team all year. Melanie Rigby led off with a solid 8.75. Darlene Benedetti dragged her feet but still managed an 8.90. Big releases and big hits from Jamie Randall, Nina Schubert, Angela Erato and Michelle Saxton sealed the impressive comeback for the Eagles much to the delight of their big crowd in the stands. The 46.075 total was by far the highest bar total of the day and their routines were clearly better than all other teams.
Last year, the Eagles won floor and bars while Cortland won beam and vault to finish one-two. This year, La Crosse won floor and bars and Cortland won vault and took second on beam, but they closed the gap as last year La Crosse won by nearly 1.8, and this year the difference was .175 - 183.95 to 183.775 making it the closest finish since 1995.
Every team had a difficult time on beam on this night except for Ursinus College who went 6 for 6 and won the event with a 46.325. That performance led the Bears to their best finish ever. After taking fourth place the last two years, the Bears cracked the top three with a 181.325. The Golden Gusties were a close fourth with a 180.900 and the host team closed out a Cinderella season with a 5th place 180.500. Rounding out the field were three teams that struggled on and off all night: UW-Oshkosh 178.175, Ithaca College 177.975 and SUNY-Brockport 177.675.
Gustie Amanda Parker could not defend her all-around crown as she struggled on bars and that opened the door for newcomer Lindsey Marranca from Cortland. Marranca edged out Kristen Grimmel from Ursinus 37.025 to 37.00 and she became the third straight first-year student to win the all-around championship. In third place was hometown hero Alison Eagles who had herself a terrific championship and amassed a 36.85.
The event finals on Saturday was a high level and very entertaining meet. The NCGA combines Friday's and Saturday's results to crown the event champions. Alyssa Cox from Gustavus won the vault with an 18.925 followed by Cortland's Luisa Gutierrez 18.775 and a tie between Amanda Parker and Alison Eagles for third with an 18.700. The best bar routine of the day was turned in by Nina Schubert of La Crosse, but it was not enough to catch teammate Michelle Saxton who took the gold with a 19.050 to Schubert's 19.025. Ursinus' newcomer Megan Hollern took third place with an 18.675. Hometown favorite Lynn Morris took a one tenth advantage into beam finals and she made it stand, as she shared the podium with repeat champion Danin Squires from Cortland - both with a 19.100. In third place was everyone's sentimental favorite, Oshkosh's outstanding senior, Jennifer Williams. And floor was taken by Brockport's sophomore Jordan Christiano with a 19.375 total. Second belonged to Amanda Parker at 19.275 and two La Crosse gymnasts tied for third, Jenny Struve and Leslie Stewart - 19.250.
Overall an extremely well run meet and La Crosse serving notice that unless anyone is going to challenge their bars team, they may be hanging around the top once again. Cortland's Gary Babjack was voted as the NCGA Coach of the Year for another outstanding year for the Red Dragons. And, in what very well could have been a unanimous decision, Oshkosh's Jennifer Williams was voted the Outstanding Senior Athlete.
Another exciting year came to a close in the NCGA and there is a buzz already going about the 20th anniversary year coming up. MIT will host the 2004 Championships along with an NCGA reunion for alumni coaches, athletes and the athlete's parents who are such a big part of this great NCGA family.
Official Website Release - Team - Individual