Towson junior Annukka Almenoksa was trying to return from an injury deemed career-ending, and senior teammate Decelia Willacy was looking to cement her legacy.
Both reached their goals this season en route to leading their team to a fourth straight Eastern College Athletic Conference championship.
“It was not expected at all,” Coach Dick Filbert said. “I told the girls the week going up there that if we make our routines, no one can beat you. But the trick is to make those routines. You can miss a couple beams or a couple bars and you lose.”
But with Almenoksa winning the all-around title at the ECAC Championships at William & Mary on March 29 and Willacy finishing third ? sealing her selection as the ECAC Gymnast of the Year ? Towson (6-5) easily secured its 12th league title.
Almenoksa has battled ankle and foot injuries throughout her career, which forced her to miss most of her freshman year. She returned to her native Finland during the offseason to train, but suffered another setback during the summer of 2006, when she fell from the bars and hyperextended both elbows. She tore nearly every ligament in the elbows and required extensive surgery.
“I didn?t want to give up because my dream was always to move to the USA and I got a scholarship here and it was a big thing for me,” Almenoksa said. “I was not giving up.”
She didn?t.
Almenoksa increased her rehabilitation and training and saw the results this season. Against George Washington on March 18, Almenoksa scored a 9.9 on the balance beam ? and did it in front of her parents, Jarmo and Arja, who made the flight across the Atlantic Ocean to see her compete in America for the first time.
She capped her dream season late last month by taking first at the ECAC Championships by taking first in the balance beam (9.925), second on vault (9.825) and floor exercise (9.875) and 26th on the uneven parallel bars (9.525).
“I knew I had a chance,” Almenoksa said. “But I never knew if I would be able to even do that.”
Willacy, who won the all-around at the ECAC Championships last season, emerged as one of the team?s leaders this year. Classmate Christina Ghani, who won the ECAC Gymnast of the Year in 2005 and 2006, missed the final three weeks of the regular season with a knee injury, thrusting Willacy even more into the spotlight.
“Winning all the championships has been amazing,” Willacy said. “This kind of thing doesn?t happen to everybody. For the past two years I have done a lot for the team and the conference. I guess they just looked at my accomplishments and thought it must be time.”
Almenoksa, Willacy and Ghani all achieved scores during the season to qualify for the NCAA Regionals on April 12 at the University of Florida. Ghani will be unable to compete due to her injury, but Willacy and Almenoksa will take to the mat. Later this month, the duo will try to lead the Tigers to their second straight USA Gymnastics National Championships at Centenary College in Shreveport, La.
“I?m going to try to win, it?s my last year,” Willacy said. “I do think my class left a big impact on Towson gymnastics and I think people will remember that for awhile.”
