Nick Pironio
The flight may not have always been smooth. In fact, at times the wind may have seemed to blow one a little off course. The clouds may have kept the prize hidden from view.
But the flight is close to its destination and the eagle has almost landed.
The gymnastics team will look to capture its third East Atlantic Gymnastics League championship this Saturday at Rutgers University.
With a current third-place ranking in the EAGL and having already beaten several league rivals in regular season meets, coach Mark Stevenson said he is confident in his team’s chances this weekend.
“There’s five teams that can walk into the meet and win,” Stevenson said. “It just depends on who does their job that day. We’ve got as good of a chance as anybody.”
State earned regular season victories over EAGL opponents George Washington, Maryland, Rutgers, New Hampshire, and North Carolina — including two against the Tar Heels.
Even with these big wins, the team has seen its ups and downs this season.
Senior communication major, Kylah Bachman, said team members were a little disappointed in their finishes in the first couple meets because they felt the team didn’t live up to its potential.
“We put our expectations up real high,” Bachman said. “When you are a very talented team and you see yourself not do as well as you should, that’s what made that part of the season kind of rocky.”
However, the team fought through these early, temporary defeats and learned a lot along the way, Bachman said.
“We were able to build ourselves up and gain our confidence,” Bachman said. “This helped us to be able, for example, stay on the vault or land cleaner to impress the judges.”
Last season, the team went into the league championship in first place and was expected to easily flip and tumble its way to a championship. However, things did not go as planned for the Pack.
Four-time EAGL specialist of the week Leigha Hancock, a sophomore in first year college, said she remembers last year well.
“It was kind of disappointing last year because we were good all year and we were expected to win EAGL,” Hancock said. “Then, we got fourth.”
Coming into the championship this season, Hancock said the team is looking like a sure-fire contender, despite its ups and downs.
“We had a rough beginning of the season,” Hancock said. “Then, the end of the season got good. Now that we are at our peak, we can do really good in the meet.”
Following the EAGL championship meet, regionals are on tap for the gymnastics squad. As of right now, they are qualified to compete. However, Stevenson said he knows that a strong showing this weekend is critical to holding on to their spot.
“Right now we are seeded fifth in our region, which means that we go,” Stevenson said. “But the team that is right behind us is not very far behind us.”
In addition, a strong meet would put the Pack back where it belongs at the conclusion of a season, according to Stevenson — in the national rankings.
“A win could put us into the top 25 by the end of the weekend if we have a good meet,” Stevenson said, “which would be a big step for us because we’ve been there consistently at the end of the season over the past few years. Last year we finished 28th, which was the first time we finished out of the top 25 in probably the last 15 years.”