This weekend, William and Mary traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to compete in the USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships, hosted by Air Force. The team competition and the all-around were held Friday, resulting in a second-place team finish and two College all-around athletes earning USAG all-America honors. Saturday, in the individual competition, at least one member of the Tribe earned USAG all-America honors on each of the six events.
The College took second place at the USAG team competition for the second year in a row, scoring 388.75 points. The Tribe was beat out only by the host, the Falcons, who put up a score of 396.4. The Tribe bested Navy (388.7) and Springfield (371.9) to finish in the top two for the seventh time in the last nine years.
By the end of Friday, the College had advanced eight gymnasts to the individual finals and had posted the best team score on the floor exercise, with a season-high score of 68.9.
The all-around finals occurred Friday and the Tribe had strong representation at the top of the leaderboard. Junior Jack Hasenkopf posted a score of 74.9 to take third place and sophomore Nate Winneg put up a score of 72.8 to place fifth.
Saturday, the gymnasts returned to Air Force to compete for the individual finals. The top six gymnasts in each event were awarded USAG all-America honors and the College received honors on all six events.
Junior Peter Makey was the strongest competitor for the Tribe Saturday, putting up a 13.55 on rings to take first place on the event. He was awarded all-America honors on rings at the USAG competition all three years he competed for the Tribe, taking sixth his freshman year, fourth his sophomore year and now holding a national title. Junior David Watkins also competed on rings and placed fourth with a score of 13.2.
On high bar, junior David Allen took second place with a score of 13.25, while senior Mitchell Campbell put up a 13.5 for fourth place. Campbell also received all-America honors on parallel bars, where he placed sixth, scoring a 12.6.
On pommel horse, junior Jacopo Gliozzi placed third and put up a score of 12.95. Sophomore Tim O’Neill took fifth on floor, scoring a 13.4. On vault, freshman Collin Lillie scored a 13.85 to tie for sixth place.
In addition to the overall success in competition, a couple members of the Tribe took home additional individual awards. Senior Griffin Antle was named 2018 USAG Collegiate Senior Athlete of the Year and Bo Morris was awarded Assistant Coach of the Year.
At the meet, the Tribe wore teal wristbands to support the prevention of sexual assault in light of the increased public awareness of widespread abuse in gymnastics.
The College will continue competing next weekend, participating in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship April 7 at Navy.
