2008 Woodie Awards
Willacy, TU place third in title meet
Simon Habtemariam
Sports | 4/22/08
Despite several individual achievements by Towson gymnasts Friday night, the Tigers failed to clinch a second consecutive USA Gymnastics Championship. After a strong 2008 campaign, Towson placed third in the finals this weekend.
"I'm never happy with anything less than a win, but the final four teams were scary," head coach Dick Filbert said. "Overall, I'm satisfied, our girls competed very well."
Towson finished the meet with a combined 193.100-team score, only 0.075 ahead of host school Centenary. Texas Woman's University would take the crown with a 194.700 final score.
Towson's lowest team score on a single event came on the bars. Sophomore Jackie Schweitzer shined where the Tigers were dim by posting a 9.80 and taking second out of all participants.
Junior Annukka Almenoksa and sophomore Alise McDonald would match scores on the floor exercise with a 9.825, good enough for second place in the event. McDonald was one of the Tigers top point-earners for the day, with the team's highest score on the vault. Between the two days of competition McDonald averaged a 9.875.
Senior Decelia Willacy finished her senior season strong with 9.725 score on the vault. Willacy was named ECAC gymnast of the year, and was one of two Tigers to represent the Black and Gold at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet. The other was Almenoksa, who finished tenth on the beam in that meet and finished 18th in the all-around competition.
Towson competed without Christina Ghani. The senior has been withheld from competition due to an injury suffered during warm ups in a meet versus Rutgers.
"When we lost [Ghani] we were all a little shaken by it because she is one of our top performers," Schweitzer said. "We all knew that because we lost her we had to pull together even more and give a little extra to do as well as we did."
The Tigers have still found a way to compete without the veteran presence of Ghani and have won two meets and a conference championship since she has gone down.
"It was a really good season, and I'm very proud of our gymnasts," Filbert said.
"I'm never happy with anything less than a win, but the final four teams were scary," head coach Dick Filbert said. "Overall, I'm satisfied, our girls competed very well."
Towson finished the meet with a combined 193.100-team score, only 0.075 ahead of host school Centenary. Texas Woman's University would take the crown with a 194.700 final score.
Towson's lowest team score on a single event came on the bars. Sophomore Jackie Schweitzer shined where the Tigers were dim by posting a 9.80 and taking second out of all participants.
Junior Annukka Almenoksa and sophomore Alise McDonald would match scores on the floor exercise with a 9.825, good enough for second place in the event. McDonald was one of the Tigers top point-earners for the day, with the team's highest score on the vault. Between the two days of competition McDonald averaged a 9.875.
Senior Decelia Willacy finished her senior season strong with 9.725 score on the vault. Willacy was named ECAC gymnast of the year, and was one of two Tigers to represent the Black and Gold at the NCAA Southeast Regional Meet. The other was Almenoksa, who finished tenth on the beam in that meet and finished 18th in the all-around competition.
Towson competed without Christina Ghani. The senior has been withheld from competition due to an injury suffered during warm ups in a meet versus Rutgers.
"When we lost [Ghani] we were all a little shaken by it because she is one of our top performers," Schweitzer said. "We all knew that because we lost her we had to pull together even more and give a little extra to do as well as we did."
The Tigers have still found a way to compete without the veteran presence of Ghani and have won two meets and a conference championship since she has gone down.
"It was a really good season, and I'm very proud of our gymnasts," Filbert said.
Be the first to comment on this story