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Gymnastics: Men, women set for championship meets

28 March 2008 | By Chris Weidman, Flat Hat Assoc. Sports Editor | The Flat Hat » sports

The Tribe’s men and women kick off their postseason meets this weekend as the men travel to Springfield College to take part in the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championship today and tomorrow, and the women will host the ECAC Championship tomorrow in Kaplan Arena.

The 11th-ranked male squad will be looking to turn a wave of late-season victories into gold this weekend.
“We’ve won three of our last four meets, and since our season opener, University of Illinois — Chicago is the only team in the conference that has beaten us,” freshman Andy Hunter said.

“We’re confident that we can carry this momentum into the post season.”

The men’s championship is for teams that give a maximum of two full scholarships; the College does not designate any. While the Tribe has won the event for seven straight years, they expect to face stiff competition this year.

“We want to force people to beat us,” Gauthier said. “We are pretty tough to beat as a team and are very consistent. People have stepped up to hit big routines at the right time this year.”
Seniors Andrew Hunt and David Locke will return to defend their individual titles. Hunt will defend his on the parallel and high bars; Locke looks to wrap up his second consecutive championship on vault.

“We’re competing against ourselves out there,” Hunter said. “If we hit our sets, other teams will have to throw everything they have to beat us.”

The lady gymnasts will attempt to win the fifth ECAC championship in the College’s history. The Tribe has not won the title since 2003.

“We have struggled with consistency this year,” Head Coach Mary Lewis said. “The catchphrase this season has been ‘close the deal.’”

According to Lewis, while the College has little chance of earning an NCAA bid, two seniors, Tricia Long and Stevie Waldman, have a chance of obtaining individual bids in the all-around discipline.

“A lot of weight is on [Long and Waldmans’] shoulders because they perform a third of the routines,” Lewis said.

Long and Waldman currently rank 20th and 21st in the Southeast region in all-around. However, only the top five point leaders can go to NCAAs because competitors on teams that qualify for the competition do not get counted in the top five. Long and Waldman currently sit in sixth and seventh position outside of teams expected to make the championship.

  1. “Struggled with consistency?” That’s an understatement. It’s hard to comprehend how W&M, which is the only school left in Virginia with women’s competition gymnastics, can consistently do so poorly. (The men perform a whole lot better.) Maybe the college should look at the way the women’s team is chosen and coached.


    — tribefan    Apr 2, 06:02 PM    #

  2. tribefan, you should check your facts first. the women were ECAC champions in 2001, 2002 and 2003. head coach mary lewis has been here 15 years, earned 4 total ecac championships, and a ECAC Coach of the Year award. two years ago they finished second and went to the USAG Collegiate Nationals. Im not sure they “consistently do so poorly” as you say. Also, FYI hardly anyone cares about gymnastics at this school to begin with.


    — tribepride    Apr 2, 07:13 PM    #

  3. This season, they came in last place in the majority of the meets they were in and 4th place in the ECAC. 2003 was 5 years ago. Since then, James Madison ended the only other team in the state. Every year, there are fewer and fewer places for gymnasts to go. I’m just saying it seems the Tribe should be getting better.


    — tribefan    Apr 2, 09:04 PM    #

  4. Speaking as a member of the guy’s team, I can only add that some of the problems the women’s team face center around location. Virginia and this east / southeast region is not very strong at the lower-levels from a national gymnastics standpoint. If they draw from here, they are drawing from a pool of female gymnasts that tends to be inferior. If they draw from areas that tend to have more superiorly-trained gymnasts (e.g., Texas and some of the NE), then they face competition from other higher-ranked and more successful schools. Couple this with a relatively young women’s team (compared to their nearby rivals), and that explains some of the news.


    — male Tribe gymnast    Apr 3, 01:36 AM    #