Gymnastics dominates
Wins intercollegiate club competition in UT
Mark Watkins
Having just won five out of their six meets, the MIT Women’s Gymnastics team was fully confident and prepared to enter the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs’ meet in Salt Lake City, Utah. The meet was at the Salt Lake City Convention Center, April 19–21, and over 50 gymnastics clubs from the United States entered the competition. MIT decidedly won the competition with 149.25 points overall.
Last season, the team won nationals, and they have high hopes this year as well. “I think the girls really wanted to show everyone we could do it again,”Coach Gina Policelli said.
The weekend began with the preliminary competition on Thursday. An overall team score of 145.8 allowed the team to advance to finals, placing first in their session. Zara K. Kuraman ’13 made finals in all four events and all-around. Julia Sharpe ’09 made finals on vault, bar, floor, and all-around. Lindsay M. Sanneman ’14 made it on bars, beam, and all-around, and Adrienn LaChance (Harvard ’14) made it on floor.
The team also had some fun bonding time during the weekend since they did not have any competitions on Friday and got the chance to explore around the beautiful Salt Lake City and Park City. Saturday, however, it was time to showcase all of the hard work the girls had put in throughout the season.
“Each girl rose to her potential and peaked exactly when we needed her to,” Coach Policelli explained.
The team definitely dominated the meet, scoring 149.25 overall. MIT placed first in the women’s competition, beating out the second place team, Penn State, by 4.7 points. MIT also took first on vault, with a tie from Sharpe and Kuraman, and first, second, and seventh on bars (Sharpe, Kuraman and Sanneman, respectively). By no surprise, the team also took first and fifth on beam (Kuraman and Sanneman, respectively), second and fourth on floor (Sharpe and Kuraman, respectively), and first, second, and sixth in the all-around (Kuraman, Sharpe, and Sanneman, respectively). Each girl brought her strength to the competition and contributed to a great meet. Kuraman scored a 38.525 all-around, setting a new record for MIT.
In reflecting on this past season, Ginacelli expressed, “I couldn’t be happier or more proud of the way our team came together and really shined on the national stage,” he said. “We’re looking forward to another successful year next year.”