by David F.P.

(Scores from Troester unless otherwise indicated.)

I arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts later than I would have liked, and as such walked onto the MIT campus in the midst of the 4th of 6th rotations in the tri-meet. Nonetheless it provided me an opportunity to see Brockport in action. I wish I had seen more of West Chester, I admittedly arrived late in their floor rotation and it’s hard to see Beam as well, as Floor gets priority when I video. I wish I could write more, but I’m very ignorant about the team at this time. Still I can comment a bit on MIT and Brockport this week, but first a little history…

When I last saw a gymnast from SUNY Brockport in competition, it was in New Hampshire in 2005, the venue was NCAA Northeast Regionals. Brockport had sent not one but two gymnasts, Carrie Santore and Sarah Bulka, to the traditionally division 1 dominated event, which was quite an achievement. Santore, a seniors, would not only perform at regionals but earn a trip to NCAA nationals. Bulka had two more years left to compete and returned to Brockport the following year and was picking up a variety of NCGA division 3 accolades. She is once again in the race for a slot to regionals in the All Around.

The Brockport that stepped in MIT’s duPont gymnasium was a largely different one from the group that Santore and Bulka had emerged from, and the MIT team that had met them at 2005 ECACs was largely different as well. Of the 11 gymnasts who were in the lineup for Brockport, only four would have been on the 2005 team. On MIT’s side, four of the nine lineup members were on their 2005 squad.

Due to the scarcity of regional slots (only 5 going to nonqualifying team members in the All Around) it is a tall order to obtain them, and with strong gymnasts emerging from all over the 3 divisions of the ECAC, ever meet counts. Bulka is in the running, as is MIT’s Julia Zimmerman, who has spent the past few weeks breaking records and raising personal bests.
Not only would the contest over who would win the All Around come down to the last rotation, and the last routine, with Zimmerman holding the traditional 6th spot in MIT’s floor routines, it would give her a victory by only .10 after overcoming a deficit of .10. Zimmerman would finish with a 38.25, and Bulka with a 38.15.

Brockport Freshman Lauren Gildermeyer performed to what I believe is a personal best to score a 38.025 and third place in the All Around competition. She lead the team on Vault with a 9.65 and on Floor with a 9.775. Bulka lead the team on Bars with a 9.55, and Nikki Visnick topped the team scores in 9.625. Zimmerman also topped MIT’s Vault with a 9.6, she also lead the team on Bars with a 9.625, Beam with a 9.45, and Floor with a 9.575.

Brockport would score a 187.6 to MIT’s 180.575. Brockport’s scoring puts it in many ways in line with some D1 ECAC teams currently, which is good for them going into the ECAC championships, given that Ursinus is scoring 188’s. and Ithaca scored a 187 plus this week as well.

While every competitor on both teams contributed to the scoring in various ways, here are some of the highlights.

Brockport made it up to that score through a variety of contributions. Christina Baggetta scored a 9.525 on Bars and Stephanie Baker scored a 9.425 on Vault. Brittany Burr had a 9.375 on Vault and a 9.35 amidst a very solid floor rotation. Jessica Downs had a 9.025 on beam. Michelle Farrelly had a 9.425 on Bars and Nikki Fisher a 9.475 on FX. Lauren Gilermeyer also had a 9.5 on Beam.

MIT’s Sophia Harrison had a good day, a 9.375 on Vault, 9.3 on FX, and a 9.075 on Bars. Katie Mingo had a 9.15 on Vault and FX. Sarah Trowbridge had a 9.1 on Vault, 9.05 on Bars, and 9.0 on FX. Seniors Lara Hershcovitch and and Ashley Tran competed in their last routines before the home crowd as well.

Since this is the first time I’ve seen Brockport recently, here’s a brief summary of their floor efforts. As usual I am being conservative in describing the moves until I really get a handle on the terminology.I also have not been able to lighten the vids so they are darker than usual, thus I am not even trying to count the number of twists in any of the routines.

I will say Brockport’s routines really seem to blend the music and the dance quite well amidst the tumbling passes.

Nikki Visnick
Visnick has drum beat music leads into Ricky Martin’s “Cup of Life”. She does a high back pike on tumbling pass number 1 and front layouts on pass 2. Her music becomes a bit different before leading back into Ricky Martin for pass three which consists of some twists.

Stephanie Baker
Her music sounds much like an adventure movie’s orchestral soundtrack. She does back tucks in her first tumbling pass. Within her second she does some twists and a front flip, and on the third pass she twists as well.

Brittany Burr
She performs to Upbeat Brass band music. In her first pass, she twists than does a front flip. It looks like she twists and does a layout on the second pass. On the the third pass a twist, but it looks different than the usual twists I’m used to seeing.

Nikki Fisher
Fisher’s music has drums with a dramatic orchestral backdrop which eventually becomes fully orchestral. She twists and does a front flip on the first pass. In the scond pass it looks like a layout. The third pass has a high twist.

Sarah Bulka
She uses the latin based “Welcome to Cuba” from Die another Day. Her first pass had back tucks, and she doesn’t waste much time before going right into pass 2 with two front layout. Her finale has twists.

Lauren Gildermeyer
Her music has an airy orchestral feel at first. She does twists and a back tuck for the 1st pass, there is clearly twisting going on amidst the salto. Some horns and upbeat theme music kicks in as she heads into the second pass which are front layouts. The third pass soon follows and has back twists.

The ECAC Division 3 Championships will bring the 8 Division 3 ECAC teams together for a shot at D3 nationals and numerous team and individual merits next week.