The Towson University gymnastics team hoped that a dominating performance in last weekend?s Eastern College Athletic Conference championship would be enough to qualify them for next weekend?s NCAA Southeast Regional competition.
While Towson did capture its third straight ECAC title Saturday at Cornell, it was not enough to get the Tigers into the six-team regional. But as a consolation, Towson will have a presence at the meet in Morgantown, W.Va. Three gymnasts qualified to participate in the all-around competition based on their performances throughout the season.
“We can?t control the judges or the seedings, but we can control what happens in our routines,” Towson coach Dick Filbert said. “The team did everything I asked of them this season.”
Juniors Decelia Willacy and Christina Ghani and freshman Jackie Schweitzer qualified for regionals while also coming up big in the ECAC championship. Willacy won the all-around competition last weekend with a 38.825 score to help lead Towson to the title with 193.650 points. Pennsylvania (191.325) and Rhode Island (190.475) were Towson?s main competition in the championship meet.
Ghani, the ECAC all-around winner the previous two seasons, placed third this year with a score of 38.20, including a first-place finish on the vault (9.9). Schweitzer placed fifth in the all-around (38.1), including second-place finishes on the beam (9.8) and floor exercises (9.825) and a sixth-place finish on the bars (9.625).
Also for Towson, freshman Alise McDonald and senior Stacie Hogan were named regional alternates in the vault and floor exercises, respectively. McDonald placed fifth in the vault (9.725) at the ECAC championship, while Hogan won the floor exercises (9.85).
Towson?s complete team will be the No. 1 seed in the USA Gymnastics national meet April 21 in Seattle. The eight-team field is made up of the top schools that didn?t make the regionals and offer less than seven scholarships.
“I?m so proud of everything we did this season,” Willacy said. “I would rather have had the entire team at regionals, but it will be nice to have at least a few teammates there. We feel a sense of pride to continue the winning tradition established here at Towson.”
