WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Five West Chester University women’s gymnasts will compete at the 2012 USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships this weekend inside Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium on the campus of defending champion University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.
Senior Alli Aquila returns to the national meet for the fourth and final time in her college career. An all-around performer in each of her first three trips to the national stage, Aquila returns in 2012 to compete on the vault and the uneven bars. Joining her will be teammates Kaley LaFleur, ranked 12th in the country on the balance beam, Melissa Voskian, competing on the vault as well, Emily Seigel, performing on the bars and beam, and freshman standout Stephanie Schuler, entered in the all-around category.
Aquila posted a regional-qualifying score of 9.52 on the vault and a 9.47 on the bars. LaFleur, who is returning to nationals for the third time in her college career, registered a regional-qualifying score of 9.72 on the beam. The Seminole, Fla. native was awarded a 9.9 on the beam by one judger this winter, marking the first time a WCU gymnast had ever been given such a high score. She suffered just one miss all season on the beam and recorded a personal best 9.85. Voskian reaches nationals for the first time in her career with a regional score of 9.495.
Also making her first national appearance is Seigel. The sophomore posted a 9.465 on the bars while registering a 9.545 on the beam. Freshman phenom Schuler showed a regional-qualifying score of 37.81 on the season.
The three-day meet will feature 12 varsity teams. Competition begins Thursday at 1 p.m. with two sessions of team semifinals and the all-around finals. Team finals will start at 7 p.m. on Friday at Webster Bank Arena, and Saturday will be the individual event finals back at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium at 1 p.m.
Tickets are available online at www.ticketmaster.com for the team finals, and at
www.brownpapertickets.com for the team preliminaries and individual event finals. Tickets will also be available at the venue box office the day of the meet. For more information and directions to the event, please visit
UBKnights.com.
The schools competing in the team competition are: Air Force, Centenary College of Louisiana, William & Mary, Seattle Pacific, Temple, Texas Woman's University, University of Bridgeport and Penn.
Schools with athletes competing for an event or all-around title only are: Brown, Cornell, Southern Connecticut State and West Chester.
Bridgeport has won the team title in each of the last two seasons, and tied with Cornell in 2009.
The USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships is for Division I, II and III schools with less than seven-and-a-half full scholarships.
The following West Chester University women's gymnasts were also named USAG Scholar-Athletes:
Alli Aquila
Lindsey Britt
Karen Laskaris
Rachel Pearson
Stephanie Plaugher
Cassandra Ringer
Erin Simon
Emily Seigel
