__Padilla, Waldman earn First-Team All-American honors__
p. Over the weekend the women’s gymnastics team competed in the USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships in Seattle, Wash. The College placed seventh out of eight Thursday with a score of 189.1 in a highly competitive preliminary round. Two Tribe athletes, senior Christina Padilla and junior Stevie Waldman, qualified for Saturday’s individual finals after finishing in the top-five of events during the team competition.
p. Padilla qualified for the individual finals in the vault and bars events, earning All-American honors in both; she placed sixth in the vault with a score of 9.6 and 10th on the bars with a score of 9.225.
p. “Saturday was the final competition of my gymnastics career, which is really weird to think about because I’ve been competing since I was seven years old,” Padilla said. “I was happy with my performance at the meet.”
p. Waldman tied for sixth in the floor event Thursday; however, an athlete dropped out of the event, and Waldman took her place in the floor finals. She placed 10th on the floor and also garnered All-American honors.
p. Junior Tricia Long’s all-around performance merited Second-Team All-American honors, and freshman Ali Medeiros took Second-Team All-American honors on the bars.
p. Other notable highlights from the preliminary round of competition include freshman Ali Medeiros’ scores of 9.6 on the beam, 9.5 in the vault and 9.650 on the bars. Freshman Stephanie Bevan also competed in the beam, scoring a 9.575 and placing 14th in the second session.
p. Long earned fourth place in the all-around during the second session, with a cumulative score of 37.125. She also competed on the floor and scored a 9.7, placing 11th in the second session and scoring a 9.475 in the vault. Sophomore Sarah Jacobson also scored a 9.475 in the vault and added a 9.425 on the bars. Due to strong competition, neither of these scores broke the top 20 in the second session.
p. Sophomore Becca Bacharach scored a 9.575 on the floor, and also competed in the vault for a score of 9.6, placing 12th in the event. Senior Andrea Dochney scored 9.625 on the beam and placed 10th in the second session, and fellow senior Jess Randall scored 9.675 on the floor, taking 13th place.
p. “The entire weekend was a great experience for our team … we didn’t have the outcome that we had hoped for as a team, but there were many high points and many people who stepped up when the pressure was on,” Waldman said.
