01-02 UPDATES

• Merritt Tam '05 - 2nd place finish on beam at Nationals, two-time all-american Eduardo Ovalle voted Coach of the Year MIT to host 2004 National Championships! - GO

• Entire class of '05 qualifies as individuals to the NCGA National Chamionships

• Meet Statistics

• 2001-2002 Competitions (4-15) (4-4 in NCGA)

• at U-Mass with Yale 03/16/02
• ECAC Championships at Ursinus College 03/09/02
• at Springfield College 03/03/02
• at Rhode Island College with Bridgeport 02/24/02
• University of Massachusetts and Alaska 02/19/02
• University of Vermont 02/09/02
• Bridgeport and Brockport 02/02/02
• at Wilson College Invitational 01/26/02
• at Ursinus College 01/25/02
• at Brown University 01/23/02
• Southern Connecticut 01/19/02



• At long last: The 'Glamour' Shots

• Class of '05 added to the Athlete Profiles

• Calling all NCGA Alumnae

• 00-01 Season Wrap-Up

• Ellefson '01 - Named NACGC/W Regional Athlete of the Year for 2001

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Three qualify to Nationals

The three members of the class of '05 all advanced to the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) National Championships to be held at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY on March 22nd and 23rd, 2002. By virtue of their performance at the ECAC/Regional Championships on March 9th in conjunction with their Seasonal Average Score going into that competition, Merritt Tam, Ashley Rothenberg and Whitney Watson were all able to move on. Tam qualfies as an all-around competitor while Rothenberg is one of a pair of uneven bar specialists and Watson joins them on the balance beam. Congratulations to the class of '05!

The 2000-2001 Season Wrap-Up

The 2001 competitive season was a challenging one for the MIT gymnasts. The class of '04 brought with it only one gymnast, but a very talented one at that, in Cindy Chung. Cindy's impact on the team was limited by her injuries, and that, in a nutshell, is the story of this year's squad.

Our talented group of sophomores suffered through another injury prone year. Last season's surprise, Lindsey Wolf, tore her ACL over the summer months and was out of the entire 2000-2001 season. Deb Dryer, attempting to come back from reconstructive surgery, had limited participation in almost every meet until she re-injured the same knee. Tanya Burka was a key participant throughout the year but was limited by a pinched nerve in her back. Carrie Garceau managed to stay healthy most of the year and was the most consistent appearance in the line-up out of this class. Caitlin Dwyer-McNally had to battle recovering from shoulder surgery and then a nagging knee, but finished up the season strong. Injuries however, did not affect our class of juniors who have had healthy careers at MIT to this point. Cecile LeCocq was a joy to watch on floor exercise and Amy Shui pushed through a tough academic year to hang in there with the team and continue to be a rock solid performer.

MIT graduated three gymnasts in 2001, Sonja Ellefson, Liz Ellingson and Karla Maguire. Karla was one of the most pleasant surprises for MIT since she did not join the team until her sophomore year and made marked improvements in her bar routine throughout her career. In her senior year she even competed vault a couple of times and helped the team on beam as well. Liz had a very unfortunate accident in the fall in which she broke her ankle. She spent most of the year rehabilitating from that injury and was able to compete in the last couple of meets on beam, but her career ended up in a disappointment because of the injury. Sonja closed out an impressive career at MIT full of individual accomplishments but with the disappointment of not being able to take her team to Nationals in any of the four years that she was here. Among Sonja's awards and recognitions, she was voted the Outstanding Senior Athlete in the NCGA and received the Regional Gymnast of the Year Award for the Northeast Region from the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches. This marked the first time ever that a Regional Gymnast of the Year Award went to a Division III athlete.

It was the second straight year in which injuries played the biggest part in an MIT season. We hope to break that trend and not make it three years in a row.

Sonja Ellefson - Northeast Regional Athlete of the Year

Sonja Ellefson, MIT's most decorated gymnast, took home another award at the Division I Northeast Regional Banquet to finish her career in style. The National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches for Women bestowed the honor of Regional Athlete of the Year on a Division III Athlete for the first time in the history of the award. The recipient is voted on by all of the Division I, II and III coaches in the Region. This was a great honor for Sonja as well as MIT.