A record-setting Division III Gymnastics season (perhaps the best in history) concluded last weekend when the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse hosted the NCGA National Championships.

Friday night featured the team and all-around competition, which was one of the closest (and by all accounts, exciting) team competitions in DIII history with the top 4 teams all scoring within .6 of one another.

Ursinus and Whitewater were favorites to vie for the title, especially after Ursinus broke the all-time DIII scoring record this season while Whitewater looked to defend their 2012, 2013, and 2014 titles. Unfortunately, both teams made mistakes early on that ultimately cost them in the end.

LaCrosse took advantage of home court, gained momentum early in the competition, and earned their 16th team title in program history (and their first since 2011) with a 191.525, the second highest Nationals score in NCGA history, upsetting a DIII record-holding team and a three-time defending champion team.

The Eagles were led by freshman Amy Enright, who placed third in the all-around with a 38.25 and became LaCrosse’s highest all-around finisher since 2011, and their scores of 48.0 on vault and 47.95 on beam were season highs. Interestingly enough, the score of 191.525 is the highest score of any gymnastics event hosted in LaCrosse’s Mitchell Hall!

Ursinus and Whitewater tied for second with a 191.225, the highest finish in program history for Ursinus, a program that has set dozens of records this season alone. Whitewater’s Katie Fiorilli defended her all-around title, winning for the second year in a row with a 38.475. Her teammate, Courtney Pickett, finished second in the all-around with a 38.4 as they led their team to second place. Ursinus freshman standout Kaelin Ruoss finished fourth in the all-around in her first stint at nationals with a 38.175.

Brockport finished fourth with a 190.95, led by senior Stephanie Schuler and her 9.825 on beam, 9.7 on vault, and 9.625 on bars. Cortland finished fifth with a 187.975 and top 10 all-around finishes by Maddie Scozzie (5th– 38.025) and Amanda Scanlon (8th – 37.7). Finally, Stout rounded out the team competition right on Cortland’s tail with a 187.85, led by Kaylee Jondahl, who broke her own school vault record with a 9.725.

Event finals were held on Saturday. This year, the NCGA made a controversial decision to change the qualifying rules, along with the format of the competition itself. Though this change had little effect on the top programs, the middle and bottom teams (particularly those in the East Region) saw the number of their individual qualifiers significantly reduced.

In years past, the first night of competition was for all team, all-around, and event specialists who had qualified based on their performance at Regionals, and from there, the top 12 per event would advance to event finals on the second day. This year, however, 9 gymnasts from each region qualified to the Day 2 of the competition at their respective regionals, not on the first day of Nationals competition. Top 6 finishers (ties included) earned first-team All-American honors, while those who finished from 7-12 earned second team All-American honors.

Whitewater’s Fiorilli took the vault title with a HUGE 9.85, with her teammate Chloe Rehberg taking second (9.725), and then there was a four-way tie for third (9.675), including Amanda Carney of Brockport, Kristin Aichele and Tina Steffenhagen of Ursinus and Kaylee Jondahl of Stout. The bars final was NUTS with 11 out of 18 competitors scoring 9.7 or above. There was a four-way (yes, four!) tie for the title, where LaCrosse’s Samantha Wiekamp and Katie Enright, Whitewater’s Fiorilli, and Cortland’s Scozzie all scored a 9.8. Ursinus’ Vanessa Scalora, and Whitewater’s Grayson Esslinger and Stefanie Cross earned a three-way tie for second with a 9.775 (a school record for Scalora), and Springfield’s Lauren Pocius and Brockport’s Schuler tied  for third with a 9.75 (Pocius tied her own school record with this routine).

Springfield’s Abby Clark also tied her own school record of 9.775 to win the beam title (becoming Springfield’s first National Champion since 2000, and the first ever to win it on beam), followed by Brockport’s Jennifer Sklenar in second (9.7), and Whitewater’s Steffi Heuer in third (9.675). Stout’s Jondahl won the floor title with a 9.8, followed by Brockport’s Lily Jagodzinski and Lexi King, tying for second with a pair of 9.75s, and LaCrosse’s Ali Berry with a 9.725 in third.

LaCrosse’s head coach Barbara Gibson was named NCGA Coach of the Year while Ursinus’ Emily Repko was named NCGA Assistant Coach of the Year. Springfield’s Pocius and Whitewater’s Cici Talcott were both named NCGA Co-Outstanding Senior Gymnast of the Year, an award bestowed upon the senior gymnast who best exemplifies all the values of the student-athlete, through academics, athletics, leadership, and service.

Finally, the NCGA announced its 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees:

• Cindy Greer (Gambill) – Tarleton State 1984: the only gymnast in NCGA history to win all five individual events in a single championship
• Ann Kelly (Gaertner) – Hamline 1987: the all-time co-leader in All-American titles with 14
• Kim MacKrille (Whitford) – UW LaCrosse 1991: a 7-time first-team All-American and 3-time National Champion
• Amanda Murdock (Diehl) – Gustavus Adolphus College 1991: 9-time first-team All-American and 3-time National Champion
• Michaela Gillispie (Chelberg) – UW River Falls 1992: 12-time first-team All-American and 4 time National Champion
• Lynnda Hahn (Mirkes) – UW Oshkosh 1994: 13-time first team All-American

With all the records set in Division III this year, many from teams led by strong freshmen classes, and with the NCGA mobilizing to become a bigger, stronger organization, the future of Division III gymnastics, once grim, is now looking bright.

Want results? Here are team and all-around scores as well as individual event final scores, courtesy of the University of Wisconson LaCrosse.

Article by Sarah Chrane