Temple has announced its intent to drop Men's Gymnastics as one of seven programs to be eliminated at the end of the year. The loss of yet another Men's program will be felt throughout the NCAA. Temple also is setting the elimination of baseball, men's crew, Men's indoor and outdoor track, Women's crew and softball. The elimination of the two women's sports is somewhat unusual in that many schools use similar high roster count sports to achieve Title IX compliance. The women's gymnastics team was not cut.
In total, 150 athletes (208 roster positions) and 9 full time coaches were impacted by today's announcement. According to Philly.com, the school has said the savings will help improve funding of the other sports, including more scholarships for women's sports (in general). Lack of adequate facilities played a role in the elimination of baseball, softball, track and crew. The school also claims that the training facility for gymnastics is inadequate to hold both the men's and women's team.
Title IX is being cited as the motivation for the change, but reportedly has helped spare the Women's team. Temple claims that with these changes, they will correct a Title IX imbalance. Currently, the school is 51% female but only 42% of the scholarships go to the women's programs.
In 1994, the baseball and gymnastics teams were proposed for elimination but were saved.
We'll keep you updated on the efforts to save the Men's program, and how you can help.
Link: Temple Release
Link: Philly.com
Natalie Vaculik, Canadian International Elite and the younger sister of Stanford's Kristina Vaculik, has committed to Georgia according to a news article. As a senior this year, Natalie is eligible to join the team next fall. However she plans to postpone college for a season or two while she works toward the next Olympic Games.
Natalie finished 2nd AA at the 2013 Canadian Championships. In the event finals, she placed 4th on bars and 8th on beam.
Rachel Slocum, L10 at Shonshine Gymnastics in N.C., has committed to EMU. Last season she finished 4th AA at regionals and qualified to JOs. She was also crowned regional vault champ.
Nebraska's men's program has signed Josh Everitt, Daniel Leal, Alex Magsam and Andrew Zymball.
Everitt trains at Gymnastics World Central in Tuscon. He finished 3rd on Rings at the 2013 JO Nationals.
Leal is originally from Columbia and trains at Indigo in NJ. At the 2013 Regionals, he took first AA, PH, PB and HB.
Magsam competes for North Valley Gymnastics in Arizona. He placed 5th on VT at the 2012 Nationals.
Zymball is an in-state product from Cahoy's Gymnastics. He was 12th AA at the 2013 JO Nationals.
Link: NU Release
Carmen Jolliff, L10 at GymX-Treme in Ohio, has committed to Kent State. Last season she finished 8th AA at her state meet and qualified to regionals. In 2012, she qualified to L9 regionals.
*Updated* Every fall, a new set of Women's code modifications are published by the NCAA. These code modifications outline variances in the NCAA code from the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Level 10 code. This is the means by which all routines are evaluated during the upcoming season. The latest update contains a few changes from last season, primarily adding special considerations for those athletes that do certain elements of difficulty in their routines, while not raising the minimum standards needed to get a 10. Although the NCAA has different Special Requirements than the NCAA, it shares the same execution deductions as the Level 10 code. With the new quadrennium, certain changes were also made to the JO Level 10 program.
Editor's Note: The article has been revised to correct a misinterpretation of a compositional deduction on beam.
Gracen Standley, L10 from CGA in Ohio, has committed to LSU. Last season she placed 7th AA at her state and regional meets. She placed 16th AA at JOs.
Adra Parks, L10 at Triad in Iowa, has committed to Arizona. In her first year as a Level 10 last season, she finished 1st AA and 1st on bars at regionals and qualified to JOs.
Nicole Rogalski, L10 at 10.0 Gymnastics in Mass., has committed to Minnesota. Nicole has competed at Level 10 since the 2011 season. She qualified to the NIT in 2011 and to JOs in 2012 and 2013. Last season she was crowned state bars champ and regional bars and beam champ. In her first early season meet this season, she placed 5th AA at the Pilgram Harvest Invitational.
Ryan Stach, L10 from Galaxy Gymnastics in N.Y., has reportedly verballed to Minnesota. In 2013, she picked up the state floor champ title and went on to win floor and vault at regionals. She qualified for the NIT. She just competed her first meet of the 2014 season, the Balloon Classic, winning the beam and floor titles.
Courtney Cowles, L10 at New England Gym Express in Connecticut, has committed to Arizona. Last season she won her state bars title. At regionals, she placed 6th AA and earned a trip to JOs.
Kynsee Roby, L10 at Chow's in Iowa, has committed to Nebraska. Last season she nearly swept the events at her state meet, winning the all around, bars, beam and floor. She won beam at regionals and her 7th place AA finish qualified her to JOs.
Bowling Green will welcome five gymnasts for 2014-2015: Morgan Denlinger, Taylor Livingston and Shannon Goniwiecha signed NLIs while Kylie Bosco and McKenna Schoenberger will walk on. The commits of Livingston, Goniwiecha and Bosco were covered in prior news items.
Denlinger is a L10 at Prestige Gymnastics. At the 2012 L10 JO Nationals, she placed 35th AA.
Schoenberger trains as a L10 at Maple City Gymnastics. At the 2013 Region V L10 Regionals, she placed 23rd AA. She also placed 12th AA at Regionals in 2012.
Link: BGSU Release
As expected Bailey Gardner, Ciara Gardner, and Hanna Hitchcock signed NLIs with Minnesota. The commits of all three were covered in prior news item. As previously reported, Rachel Rowland will be a walkon. In addition to that quartet, local product Abby DeMuse will also be a walkon.
DeMuse is a L10 at Classic City. In 2012, she placed 49th AA at the Level 10 JO Nationals.
Penn State has signed Quest Hayden and Colin Coates.
Hayden is a Junior National Team member who placed 1st on HBm 3rd on FX and 3rd AA at the 2013 P&G (US) Championships. His father and uncle were well known members at the US National level. He trains at his family's gym, the Hayden's International Gymnastics Academy.
Coates trains at the Parkettes. He finished 13th AA in the 16 year old division at the 2013 JO Nationals.
Link: PSU Release