Luke Brown
Staff Writer
Springfield College’s women’s gymnastics hosted the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship in Blake Arena on Saturday, March 8. The team took fourth for the second consecutive year.
The six teams in Blake Arena on Saturday afternoon have made up 29 of the last 31 ECAC Division III Women’s Gymnastics Champions, including 25 in a row.
The College at Brockport Golden Eagles found themselves on top of the podium for the second consecutive season with a score of 188. The SUNY Cortland Red Dragons (186.775) and the Ursinus College Bears (185.525) rounded out the top three, which earned them an ECAC bid to Nationals.
The Pride fell less than a point short with a score of 185.275. The Ithaca College Bombers (179.550) and the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen (173.725) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Despite the disappointing team result, the Pride finished with some personal ECAC accomplishments. Junior Lauren Pocius received ECAC Co-Athlete of the Year, with Courtney Saucier of Rhode Island College.
“I have worked hard this year, along with the rest of my team,” Pocius said. “[My teammates] push me to do better every day in practice, and that hard work has paid off. I hope I can continue this success next week at Nationals with the rest of my teammates who qualified. I am also very happy for Courtney from Rhode Island College, who received this award.”
Pocius took sixth overall in the all-around with a 36.4 and posted a team-high on the uneven bars with a 9.5 on Saturday.
The Pride’s 34-year head coach, Cheryl Raymond, and Cortland’s Gary Babjack were named the ECAC Co-Coaches of the Year.
In addition to the season awards, Pride freshman Nicole Silva was the reigning Rookie of the Week this past week. On Saturday she posted a team-high on the vault with 9.425. Junior Abby Clark’s 9.4 put her just behind Silva’s finish.
Clark continued her impressive day with the Pride’s top score in the floor exercise (9.525), on the balance beam (9.5), and in the all-around (37.55).
“Having three of the team’s highest scores means a lot to me,” Clark said. “I have worked hard this season and I am seeing it pay off.”
Brockport State swept the vault and floor exercise podium en route to their championship.
“After going 1-6 on beam I knew we needed to do well the rest of the meet to qualify [for Nationals],” The College at Brockport coach John Feeney said. “I told them to fight back, and you will do fine. We won floor and then vault, but still needed to do well on bars. We won bars to seal us going to Nationals. We had to come back from 2.5 points down, and we did [to win the ECAC Championships]. I am extremely proud of this team for not quitting and fighting hard [until] the end.”
The Pride are in the home stretch of their 2014 season, as they look to cap it off at the NCGA Championships in Ithaca, N.Y. on March 21-22.