This week in the NCGA

• Through March 3rd, 2002

In the EAST: The last full week of action before the Regional Championships saw action from all of the East schools except for Rhode Island College. Springfield had a mid-week meet at Southern Connecticut on Wednesday in which they bombed by all accounts and scored a 177.875. They straightened out their line-up on Sunday though, competing in their last home meet and saying good-bye to a talented group of seniors. Springfield hosted MIT and won the meet 183.775 to 178.525. MIT themselves finished up the most successful regular season ever as a team by breaking the school record in consecutive weeks. Cortland was at home hosting University of Vermont and they scored a season high 186.025 aided by an incredible 48.70 floor set. Brockport traveled to Ithaca and finished on a good note with a season high 179.80. Ithaca, on the strength of a 182.30 team score, managed to move themselves to the top of the NCGA rankings for the first time this year. Check out the ECAC/East Regional Preview, it promises to be a very exciting and highly contested competition.

In the MIDWEST: The only team not competing in the last weekend of regular season was Hamline. Stout hosted the John Zuerlein Invitational on Friday attended by LaCrosse 176.125, Gustavus 175.275, Winona 172.275 and the host 164.35. What this seems to indicate is that Gustavus is close enough to defending regional champion LaCrosse to make it an interesting competition this coming Friday. Whitewater traveled to Oshkosh where the host team had the opportunity to put themselves back in the hunt for a National Championship berth. Whitewater proved the doubters wrong though by taking care of Oshkosh 173.775 to 172.40. River Falls traveled to Eau Claire to win a close meet 174.375 to 173.35. Both schools finished strong with very successful seasons. Check out the Midwest Regional Preview, for some details about the upcoming meet.

• Through February 24th, 2002

In the MIDWEST: On Friday March 22nd, River Falls hosted the WIAC championships. LaCrosse won the meet for the sixth straight year, but after that, the results were a bit surprising. Whitewater came in hoping to challenge LaCrosse, and they came in fourth. The host school put together a good meet to finish second, and Eau Claire seemed to have a wonderful meet to finish third. Oshkosh finished just behind Whitewater as their team is finally getting healthy (just in the nick of time) and Stout rounded out the field. The scores were as follows: 179.075, 175.95, 174.30, 173.925, 173.90 and 166.90. Jennifer Williams from Oshkosh won the all-around with a 36.5. The event winners as follows: Vault - Tiffany Reber (RF), 9.35, Bars - Jennifer Williams (O), 9.1, Beam - Katie Mitchell (RF), 9.2, Floor - Angela Erato (LX), 9.525. Wendy Demore from Whitewater was named the coach of the year, and Kristy Arquette (Oshkosh) and Jenny Moore (LaCrosse) were the co-recipients of the WIAC Scholar Athlete Award. The two non-Wisconsin schools in the Midwest competed against each other and put on a show. Gustavus traveled to Hamline and outscored them 179.85 to 179.325. Two of the regions top all-arounders went head to head as Melissa Stanton (Hamline) had a terrific meet for a 37.875 and first year Gustie Amanda Parker posted a 37.275. LaCrosse, Gustavus and Hamline are 1-2-3 in the regional rankings with Whitewater holding onto the 4th spot. But look for Oshkosh (currently 6th) to jump right into the thick of it with a good home score in their next meet.

In the EAST: Ursinus and Cortland traveled to Division I Rutgers University and continued their hot streaks scoring a 183.225 and 182.425 respectively. Cortland's succees is due in no small part to their beam team which has a current SAS of 46.225 and they have the top two leaders on the appartus: Danin Squires (9.6188) and Janelle Domaradzki (9.5375). Brockport traveled to Westchester to post a 173.525 which did not help their cause. Scores flew at Springfield where the Pride scored a 186.075 only to be outdone by Ithaca's 187.025. Accounts of the meet indicate that both teams hit all of their routines and counted no falls, but the scores were high nonetheless. The problem with that is that it really affects a team like Brockport which was hoping to give Springfield a run for the fourth and final qualifying spot in the region. MIT went down Interstate 95 to Rhode Island College and broke their school record with a 177.65 as RIC scored a 176.725. Both teams had to count several falls, so even here, the judges were being generous as well. Wilson had the weekend off. One more weekend before the Regional showdown to determine who qualifies to Nationals.

• Through February 17th, 2002

In the EAST: Ursinus traveled to University of Pittsburgh on Saturday and posted their highest total of the season with a 182.75. Casey Aivazian scored a 9.725 on floor and Kristen Grimmel went 37.4 in the all-around. The Bears are currently leading the overall team rankings and look to be the team to beat down the stretch. Springfield went to Westchester to score a 178.125 which did not help them improve their SAS or their ranking. Five of the East's eight teams were at the Harriett Marranca Memorial Invitational at Ithaca along with Division I Cornell. Ithaca was tops among NCGA teams with an impressive 183.0 including at 47.525 floor set. Cortland followed with a 181.175 with also a strong showing on floor (46.95). Brockport was not far behind at 179.475 regaining the services of Jordan Christiano. Rhode Island College scored a 172.425 and Wilson College tallied a 155.65. MIT was idle over the weekend.

In the MIDWEST: Gustavus hosted Oshkosh and won a close meet 178.175 to 176.675. Amanda Parker tallied a 36.775 in the all-around for the Gusties and it was good to see Melissa Cummins back on beam and scoring a 9.4 for Oshkosh. Hamline hosted the up and coming Whitewater team and won the meet 179.275 to 177.675. Hamline's Melissa Stanton scored a 37.2 and reclaimed the overall lead in the all-around rankings. Even with the loss though, Whitewater moved ahead of Hamline in the rankings to take over the third spot in the MIDWEST. Eau Claire was at Stout and came out on top 171.55 to 167.1. Tasha Pasch went 35.85 in the all-around for Stout. LaCrosse dipped a little at home with a 175.475 against River Falls who also scored a low 168.225. Tiffany Reber from River Falls won vault with a 9.225. River Falls will host the Wisconsin Conference meet on Friday the 22nd.

• Through February 10th, 2002

In the MIDWEST: The week started off on Thursday with Eau Claire visiting Gustavus. The Gusties posted a season high 177.35. First-year Amanda Parker still scoring well on floor 9.525. Eau Claire scored a 167.375 competing without one of their top gymnasts - Kristina Reitzel. On Firday, LaCrosse, Oshkosh and Stout gathered at River Falls. Great beam competition between Angela Erato (LX) 9.6, Jennie Williams (Osh) 9.5 and Tasha Pasch (Stout) 9.45. The final scores were: LaCrosse 177.8, Oshkosh 172.55, River Falls 171.0 and Stout 170.3. Also on Friday, Gustavus and Hamline found themselves at the Best of Minnesota meet at the University of Minnesota. There's something about stepping into a Division I school as Gustavus scored over 4 points better than they scored just the day before at home (181.75) and Hamline did even better than that with a season high 182.1. Hamline's Melissa Stanton posted a 37.6 to edge out the Gusties' Amanda Parker 37.5 in the all-around within the Division III schools. U of Minnesota was also at the meet as well as Division II Winona. Lastly, there is the phenomenon that is Wisconsin Whitewater. The warhawks are breaking all kinds of school records. They met with Texas Women's University in Denton, TX and scored a 180.3. Ann Kingsnorth went 37.4 in the all-around and April Hubmann keeps re-writing the record book on floor with a new mark of 9.75. Whitewater is currently ranked 3rd in the MIDWEST and in great position to make a run at qualifying to their first nationals as a team.

In the EAST: Wilson College travelled to the University of Pittsburgh to post their highest mark of the season with a 160.75. Ursinus met with U-Penn and broke 182 for the 4th straight meet with a 182.375. The Bears are for real, Jumaah Johnson went 36.95 and Kristen Grimmel scored a 36.925 in her first all-around competition of the year. Cortland and Ithaca were at the Big Red Invitational in nearby Cornell University. Ithaca outscored Cortland 182.525 to 181.975, but it was a season high score for both teams. Ithaca put togther a 47.35 floor set with Leslie Gelatt reaching 9.7. Jocelyn Genoa amassed a 37.3 in the all-around. Cortland was not outdone by much as Danin Squires went 36.65 with a 9.575 on beam. Of note is Megan Powers score on floor which indicates that she was unable to finish her routine. We do not know the extent of the injury at this time. MIT lost a close one at home to Division I University of Vermont 177.3 to 177.2. Merritt Tam broke 37 for the first time this season with a 37.05 on the strength of a 9.5 beam set. Rhode Island College hosted Springfield and lost 177.1 to 180.0. RIC competed with 6 all-arounders as they have to make up for the loss of Kristen Oliver and Shannon Hughey carried the load with a 36.725. For the Pride, a 47.325 floor set was the key with Rachel McPhail's 9.55 being the high. It still seems that this team is still missing quite a few routines, which means they can go higher if they hit. SUNY-Brockport was idle this weekend.

Scores usually go up throughout the season and now is the time when the stronger teams start to separate themselves from the pack. The next two weeks will be key for many teams to improve their SAS score which counts as 40% in combination with the regional meet which will be held the second weekend in March.

• Through February 3rd, 2002

In the EAST: On Friday night, Springfield travelled to Vermont where the scores always tend to be little high. The Pride amassed a 179.40 without senior standout Gina Gutierrez. This team is still not hitting on all cylinders and it could be quite scary when they do. Ursinus proved that the week before was no fluke by posting a 182.575 at home versus Cortland (180.8) and Wilson College (158.875). Bear senior Jumaah Johnson hit for a 37.475 all-around score and Cortland put up an impressive beam tally of 46.925 with Danin Squires leading the way at 9.625. Brockport travelled east to meet MIT on a Saturday and visited Rhode Island College on Sunday. The Golden Eagles competed without their star first-year student Jordan Christiano who sprained her knee the week before at Wilson. Nevertheless, the early season surprise team was itself surprised by the engineers who posted a season high 177.125 in defeating Brockport (175.775). The following day the Golden Eagles returned to their winning ways by defeating RIC 176.475 to 174.375. The scary thing about the Brockport team is that there are no juniors or seniors on their team. Ithaca College was idle this week.

In the MIDWEST: UW-LaCrosse hosted it's 21st annual Gershon/McClellan Invitational where they finished ahead of all of the other NCGA schools at the meet: LaCrosse 180.55, Hamline 175.95, Gustavus 175.425, Oshkosh 173.325, River Falls 172.30, Eau Claire 171.00. And watch out for UW-Whitewater. They hosted and disposed of UW-Stout 175.525-166.25 on Friday and then travelled to Ball State on Sunday to tally up a grand total of 177.875. The strength of those two meets moves Whitewater up 4 spots, from 12th to 8th in the NCGA Team Rankings.

An update from Kerrie McKinney at UW-Oshkosh... Well, it's been a tough season starting out!! Lots of injuries to report and a few non-returners that were a surprise but luckily, most of the injuries are healing and we should be back in action towards the end of the season. Melissa Cummins, last year's vault champ, has had a number of small set backs including an ankle sprain and recently a hamstring strain. We are hoping she will be able to unleash her new vault at our meet at UW-River Falls!! Renee Porter has been a big contributor on vault this year, however she recently subluxed her shoulder. We are hoping she will make a quick return. I'm happy to report a comeback for Kristy Arquette in the all-around after a scary fall off the bars earlier in the season. Her neck has healed and she's ready to go! Wendy Wiederholt made strong comeback this past week at SEMO in the all-around after a small injury and sickness!! Jennie Williams is an outstanding highlight for us this season. She has been hitting all four events consistently and we are delighted with her progress! Despite the setbacks in our line-up, we are pleased with our progress especially at SEMO. We had a blast at the Hard Rock Cafe in St. Louis on this past trip and the team is just a wonderful group! We are excited for the upcoming invitational at UW-LaCrosse! There's no place to go but up for UW Oshkosh and we are looking forward to having a blast at our upcoming meets! We wish all the teams well and look forward to seeing everyone at future competitions! Keep smiling and lots of luck:)

• Through January 27th, 2002

In the MIDWEST: Gustavus competed on Monday and Saturday beating Hamline (170.1-166.2) at home first and then taking a squeaker at Whitewater (174.75-174.075). Amanda Parker scored a 36.5 in the all-around for the Gusties on Saturday. Hamline competed without (current NCGA all-around leader) Melissa Stanton at Gustavus but had her back for a meet against LaCrosse on Friday in which they scored a 173.275. Whitewater got two 36+ all-arounds from Lisa McManus 36.025 and April Hubman 36.175 to post their season high 174.075 on Saturday. River Falls and Eau Claire traveled to Division I Ball State on Friday. River Falls took full advantage of the opportunity in scoring a tremendous 179.175 including a 45.85 vault set and a 46.2 floor and Katherine Mitchell posting a 36.2 in the all-around. Eau Claire also enjoyed the trip with a 173.875 including a 9.55 on floor from Kristina Reitzel. Stout was out of action, still recuperating from a trip to Seattle the weekend before. And Oshkosh was at least the third team to visit former Hamline gymnast and coach Patty Stotzheim who is currently the head coach at Southeast Missouri. Jennie Williams posted the highest all-around score in the NCGA this season with a 37.4 including an impressive 9.525 on bars in helping her team to a 176.45.

In the EAST: MIT competed 3 times in 4 days and over 1000 miles of travel and the team got through without any injuries and starting off with a 173.75 at Brown University on Wednesday. Ursinus looked very impressive in their first home meet Friday, posting a season high 182.1 while defeating MIT 174.1 and Rhode Island College 173.325. Saturday saw SUNY-Brockport walk away with the Sarah Wilson Invitational at Wilson College with a 177.925 to RIC 173.175, MIT 170.5 and Wilson 151.25. Brockport's standout freshman Jordan Christiano went down with a hyper-extended knee on floor which did not seem too serious, but RIC lost senior Kristen Oliver when she broke her heel bone on vault. Springfield competed at Bridgeport and posted a 176.775 with strong floor performances from senior Gina Gutierrez (9.55) and sophomore Jennifer Romano-Joseph (9.325). Ithaca lost a close meet at Division II West Chester (178.375-178.225) with Jocelyn Genoa winning the all-around with a 36.125. Cortland competed at Wilson College on Sunday and scored a 175.925 without Danin Squires. Janelle Domaradski put up an impressive 9.575 on beam at that meet and Wilson scored a season high 155.925

It seems that most of the teams in the NCGA are scoring around the same range. It will certainly be an interesting year if it keeps up this way..

• Through January 20th, 2002

Finally, all teams in the NCGA have had at least one meet. Many teams choose to start their season in December, while at least two teams, Ithaca College and MIT, did not have any meets until this weekend. It is still very early to try to speculate what is going to happen, but there are certainly some early season surprises and possible favorites.

In the MIDWEST: UW-LaCrosse posted an impressive 180.4 away at SEMO this weekend after scoring a 181.05 at Texas Women's the week before, by far, the highest scores by any NCGA team. UW-Eau Claire hosted their invitational with the following results: Hamline 173.10, UW-Whitewater 170.65, UW-River Falls 170.575, UW-Eau Claire 166.525 and UW-Oshkosh 163.75. Hamline has a contender once again after a rebuilding year in 2001, and with defending NCGA All-Around champion Melissa Stanton back strong (36.875 this weekend), they are improving from week to week. The two teams who have made a significant surge forward are UW-Whitewater and UW-River Falls. Both teams seem to have an influx of talent in the freshman class that will help them make a bid for Nationals. UW-Stout travelled to Seattle Pacific and posted a 172.575, but with early scores no higher than 165.825, it seems that they benefited from the scoring fluctuation that exists around the country. The absence of Katie Hanson from their line-up is significant. Gustavus is also on the up and up with a 174.70 score last weekend in which they defeated UW-Stout. Notable newcomers: Amanda Parker from Gustavus, April Hubman from Whitewater, Alison Eagles from Eau Claire and Nancy Peterson from La Crosse. La Crosse senior Jenny Moore is also off to a great start. Notable absentees include Katie Hanson from Stout and Sabrina Ashton from Oshkosh who has retired from the sport.