On September 11th, 2001, Mari-Rae Sopper was on her way to California, ready to start her job as Head Coach of the women's team at UC Santa Barbara. Sopper, a former standout at Iowa State, was known as "ISUFan" on the fromer College Gymnastics Board. She had given up her job as a Navy JAG Corp lawyer to pursue her dream, and to help save the cancelled program at UCSB. She lost her life during the events of that fateful day, as the plane she was on was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. We pause to remember her spirit and dedication to the sport, and her inspiring effort to pursue her dreams, as well as the others who lost their lives that fateful day.
UW-Whitewater's Kara Welsh, 21, was shot and killed on Friday night. A 23 year old man was arrested and charged with first degree murder. Walsh, a native of Plainfield, IL, was heading into her senior season at UW-Whitewater. A VT/FX specialist, she won the National Title on VT at the 2023 NCGA (Div 3) Championships. She also placed 3rd(t) on VT in 2022. Our deepest condolences to her family, teammates, coaches, and friends.
Link: Local News Report and Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel
The final 2024-2025 Code Modifications and rules have been released. Rather than adopting some of the broad sweeping proposals for Code Modifications, the changes are now focusing on a new system of evaluation and audit of the judges. The actual changes to rules governing content, execution and value of the skills are relatively small, forming an incremental change to the existing Code of Points. (Updated with issued clarifications and changes 11/30/24).
TWU has hired Zan Jones as an assistant. He had served as a volunteer assistant at Talladega.
Link: Release
Arizona has hired Shelby Martinez as an assistant coach. She's been a club coach for the past eight years at Carter's Gymnastics. As Shelby Edwards, she was a standout for the Wildcats and a co-conference champ on VT in 2014.
Link: Release
UCLA has hired Mark Freeman and Lacy Dagen as assistant coaches. Freeman has been serving as an assistant for the Stanford's Men's team for the last five years, and prior to that, with the Cal Men's team. He was a former gymnast at Cal and for the UK National Team. Dagen was an assistant and recruiting coordinator at ASU. Prior to that, she coached at Oregon State and UC Davis. She competed at Oregon State after starting her career at Florida.
Link: UCLA Release
BGSU has hired Brittney Emmons as their new Head Coach. She has spend the last five seasons at W&M and was a student-athlete at Ball State. Prior to that, she was an assistant at SEMO and a volunteer assistant at USU.
Link: Release
GWU has hired India Anderson as an assistant. She was previously an assistant at Fisk and Ursinus. She was also a student-athlete at Temple.
Link: GWU Release
Stanford (W) has hired Caleb Rickard as an assistant coach. A former Cal athlete, he spend the last two season as Head Coach and program manager of the Stanford Boy's Gymnastics program. In related news, Vince Smurro was promoted to Associate Head Coach and Hallie Mossett was promoted to First Assistant Coach.
Link: Rickard Release and Smurro/Mossett Release
The Paris Olympics concluded after a tiring three days of event finals. Here's a summary of the results.
The event finals are happening for both the men and women at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Simone Biles overcame a break on her Pak to win the AA Gold at the Paris Olympics. Former AU star and defending champ Suni Lee won the bronze. Minnesota signee Ava Stewart was 19th while former Bama great Luisa Blanco was 23rd.
Link: USAG Release
It was the men's turn to battle, with the coveted title of Olympic AA champ on the line. More after the jump.
Led by Simone Biles, the US easily reclaimed the Olympic Team Title in gymnastics. The team was also paced by former AU star Suni Lee, Oregon State's Jade Carey and UCLA"s Jordan Chiles. 2026 recruitable Hezly Rivera completed the gold medal winning squad. The US finished 1st on every single event as a team. Italy was 2nd and Brazil 3rd. The UK was 5th. Canada, including Iowa's Cassie Lee and Aurelie Tran, former Bama star Shallon Olsen, and Minnesota signee Ava Stewart, was 5th.
Link: PDF Results