Wildfire Gymnastics has announced that Madison McIntyre is headed to Utah State next season. She has finished all of her meets this season in the top ten AA and recently placed 3rd AA at the SoCal state meet.
Emma LaPinta, L10 at Kurt Thomas Gymnastics, has committed to SEMO. This season she competed to a first place finish on floor and 3rd place all around at the Texas Prime. She competed one event at the Kurt Thomas Invite, floor exercise, and won that event.
For 36 teams, the season has built up to one day, the Regionals and the 12 teams that will qualify to the National semi-finals. There are six Regions and the top two teams in each Region will qualify to Nationals. Through the proliferation of online video and Conference TV networks, we've been able to follow the progress of every member of each and every Regional. Here's how the field shakes down.
Event champions were crowned on Saturday at the USA Gymnastic Collegiate Men's Nationals.
Justin Karstadt won the AA with an 87.05 to lead the Gophers to 426.95 to 425.55 win over NU. He also won the R and PB. Teammate Joel Gangon won HB. For the Huskers, senior Austin Epperson won the FX while teammate Antonio Castro won the PH and teammate Anton Stephenson won VT. .
Link: Release
PSU broke the 420 mark with a 420.4 to defeat Iowa's 414. Dominic DiFulvio led PSU with wins on Rings and VT. Teammates Stephan Nedoroscik and Leroy Clarke, Jr tied for the PH title while Wyatt Tyndall won PB.
Link: Release
Michigan celebrated Senior Night with a big 414.95 in a win over UIC. Anthony McCallum won FX, VT and tied for the PB title (with teammate Jonathan Chin) to lead the Wolverines. Samuel Su won PH, Ryan Dunning the R and Marty Strech the HB to complete a sweet. Wolverine Emyre Cole won the AA.
Link: Release
Ohio State posted a 417.35 to defeat host Illinois' 415.25. The Buckeyes were paced with wins from Sean Melton on R and PB and Jake Martin's 80.9 AA tally.
Link: Release
Air Force captured its 8th straight team title at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Nationals, held in Everett, Washington. They posted a 396.95 to claim first. W&M was 2nd at 388.4, Navy 3rd at 379.7 and Springfield 4th at 373.85.
ASU won the club division with a 383.65, with host Washington just behind at 381.25. Temple popsted a 364.75 and SC United a 341.5.
Air Force's Tim Wang defended his AA title with an 82.9. Washington's Nathan Tsuji was 2nd at 78.2 while Navy's Noah Beeman was 3rd.
Link: Release
EMU will welcome Megan Benzie, Cortney Bezold, Cali Harden, Brianna Price and Jada Rondeau for 2017-2018. The commits of all but Bezold and Rondeau were covered in prior news items.
Bezold is a L10 from Gym-Nation. At the 2017 Ohio State L10 State meet, she finished 5th AA. In 2015, she tied for 18th AA at the JO NIT meet.
Rondeau is a L10 from Legacy Gymnastics. At the 2016 L10 JO Nationals, she finished tied for 10th on VT and 38th AA. She also tied for 8th on VT and 37th AA in 2015.
Link: Release
How early is too early to recruit gymnasts to college?
I recently met with a family that has a daughter who is on the USA Gymnastics developmental team. Their daughter is in seventh grade and is feeling pressure to figure out which college is best for her future. College gymnastics coaches have come to watch her practice and she is seeing other girls from the developmental program verbally commit and posting this on social media.
If you ask any college gymnastics coach, they will tell you that they would prefer to wait till sophomore or junior year of high school to start recruiting However, they may also say they are guilty of making early offers. This trend of early recruiting began several years ago. When one college coach starts early recruiting, the other coaches tend to follow for fear that they will miss out on that blue chip recruit. My personal advice to this family is to take their time and not rush. A gymnast with this kind of talent will have many opportunities. Even though this specific gymnast was obviously very mature for her age, she was no where near ready to make a decision about college.
Below are some ideas on how to address this situation:
1. View early recruiting as inspiring to your daughter and not something to fear.
2. Set a goal as a family to not make any verbal commitments to a college team until high school or whatever date you feel is best for your daughter. This will take the pressure off of your
daughter and let her begin to feel comfortable with college recruiting process.
3. Look at your calendar and start taking your daughter on some casual visits to college campus’s. These schools do not have to be campus’s with gymnastics for her to learn about
college size, location and atmosphere.
4. Set up unofficial visits to the schools that appear to be interested in your daughter
5. Remember if a college coach has your daughters best interest in mind and she has the talent, they will wait for her to mature and be able to make a decision that she can feel confident
with in the long run.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask the college coach for a timeline in regards to when he or she would like a decision.
About Jill Hicks:
Jill Hicks is a former elite gymnast, Division I college athlete, club coach and Division I college gymnastics coach (Cal State Fullerton, Oregon State) and the owner of Jill Hicks Consulting, where she provides recruiting services and choreography for prospective student-athletes and their families. For further information visit: www.jhicksconsulting.com
Editor's Note: Publication of this article is not an endorsement of any recruiting service. Always check with the NCAA or your school's compliance officer for any questions regarding recruiting rules, the latest timelines, or other issues.
Bennet Huang has committed to Iowa for 2017-2018. He trains at West Coast Olympic Academy. At the 2016 P&G Championships, he placed 2nd AA, 1st on PH, 2nd(t) on FX and 5th on VT in the 15-16 year old division.
The NCAA announced Regional Assignments this afternoon:
Jr. Elite Eliana Lazzari has committed to UF. She trains at GymNasti Gymnastics in Illinois. In the 2016 season she competed at the American Classic and the Secret Classic. This season she competed three events at the Chicago Style.
Host College at Brockport won the NCGA East Regional on Sunday, posting a 191.85. Ursinus was second at 189.45 and Springfield was third at 188.825. They advance to Nationals. In fourth was Cortland State at 186.975, following by Ithaca (185.525) and RIC (179.1). Jen Sklenar led Brockport with a win the AA (38.575). Teammate Stephanie Mager won VT while teammate Brittany Vasile won FX. For Ursinus, Kaelin Ruoss won BB. SUNY Cortland's Sidney McConnell won the UB.
Link: Release
Most states have held their state meets. Not all of them have posted scores, so this list may be incomplete, but here's a little salute to the incoming freshies who won their state meets.
Arizona: Payton Bellows 37.7
Auburn: Ashley Smith 38.125 and Drew Watson 38.35
BYU: Haley Pitou 38.1
Cal: Nina Schank 38.575
UCLA: Nia Dennis 38.75 and Savannh Kooyman 37.9
CMU: Kennedy Rae Johnson 38.225
Denver: Lynnzee Brown 38.175
Illinois: Nicole Biondi 37.75 and Kasey Meeks 36.55
Maryland Audrey Barber 37.775
MSU: Anne Maxim 38.125
Minnesota: Ona Loper 37.75
Ohio State: Brooke Chesney 37.45 and Jenna Swartzentruber 37.875
Oregon State: Kaitlin Yanish 38.475
PSU: Kourtney Chinnery 37.725 and Lauren Bridgens 38.325 and Alissa Bonsall 38.25
Stanford: Rachael Flam 38.7 and Lauren Navarro 39.025
Utah State: Leighton Varnadore 37.525