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Junior Taylor Seaman leaps onto the high bar during the uneven bars competition in the meet against George Washington Mar. 13. The gymnastics team is hosting the EAGL Championships this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum.
For the third time in a decade, the Wolfpack will serve as the host of the championships as it hits the floor of Reynolds Coliseum tomorrow. The team will try to better its previous scores as host as they finished second in 1997 and fourth in 2005.
But competing isn’t the only thing on the mind of coach Mark Stevenson who said being the host of the Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships, a meet with eight schools from as far away as New Hampshire, is always a challenge.
“The largest challenge of hosting a meet is how much support you are getting from your department. Whether you actually can coach your team or you have to actually set up and run the meet, which means you are out of the gym and you don’t get the time with the kids you need,” Stevenson said. “The school has been awesome this year as far as help. They have literally taken most of it out of my hands. That makes my life a lot easier because I can focus on coaching my team.”
With the Athletics Department handling a majority of the set up for the event, the gymnasts said they feel that come Saturday, they will have an advantage over the other teams. According to junior Lauren Deuser, the team will use the home meet atmosphere and personal equipment to its advantage.
“It is a huge advantage [to host EAGL]. Basically we are at home so more people will be here for us. Also we haven’t competed against West Virginia all year and we feel like we are going to be in a fair environment,” Deuser, a textile engineering student, said. “Floor is probably the biggest advantage for us because a lot of schools don’t know how to use our floor — they are going to go too hard and go out of bounds.”
The team has gained another advantage by practicing in Reynolds as opposed to their normal location in Carmichael Gym. According to sophomore Brittney Hardiman, utilizing the time to practice in Reynolds will allow the team to adjust to the environment.
ìBeing able to practice in [Reynolds] a couple of days before the meet is going to help us get to be a little more comfortable on [the equipment],” Hardiman said. “The set up is different and the equipment is different so you get a chance to kind of feel what is going on. Because the set up is different than our normal home meets we get to see it, so when we come in for the meet, we are not surprised.”
The team enters this weekend coming off its two best meets of the season and looks to carry that momentum into the competition tomorrow. The team is second in conference standings behind the Mountaineers of West Virginia. According to Hardiman, the team feels good going into EAGL and are ready to perform at their bests.
“We are really coming together — our last two meets have been the best meets of the season. We feel really comfortable going into the last meet,” Hardiman said. “We are peaking at the right time of the year which is good. I feel really comfortable going in.”