The Gustavus Adolphus gymnastics team will send four individuals to compete in this year’s National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championships March 23-24 at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Whitewater, Wis. Brittany Moore will participate on the vault, Laura Hansen will compete on the uneven bars, Christine Askham on the floor exercise, and Nicole Gergen will compete on both the balance beam and the floor exercise.
Moore, a senior vault specialist from Plymouth, Minn., will be making her fourth consecutive appearance at the NCGA Championships. She has compiled an average of 9.228 on the vault this season and posted her season best score of 9.70 at the Best of Minnesota meet where she finished tied for third. Moore finished in the top five on the vault at the West Region meet each of her four seasons as a Gustie, winning in 2005. Moore finished tied for second this season with a 9.550. Moore has also twice qualified for the finals at the NCGA Championships, placing 11th in 2005 and ninth a year ago.
Gergen, a senior from Hastings, Minn., will be making her third appearance at the NCGA Championships in four years after missing last year’s meet. Gergen, who also qualified on both the floor and beam in her previous two trips to the national meet, has a 8.725 average on the balance beam and posted her season best score of 9.100 at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Invitational where she finished tied for fourth. She also has a 8.975 average on the floor exercise and posted her season best score of 9.350 at the WIAC Championships/NCGA West Regional where she finished 12th. Gergen finished tied for 26th on the beam (9.225) and tied for 21st on the floor (9.750) in 2004 and took 24th on the floor (9.300) and 30th on the beam (9.375) in 2005.
Hansen, a sophomore performer from Inver Grove Heights, Minn., will be making her second appearance at the NCGA Championships. She has been the team’s top performer on the uneven parallel bars with an average of 8.706. Hansen finished 17th at the NCGA West Region meet with a score of 8.90. Her top score of the season was a 9.125 which she recorded in a dual against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on February 16.
Askham, a sophomore performer from Arvada, Colorado, will also be making her second appearance at the NCGA Championships. She finished 27th at the NCGA West Region meet with a score of 9.075 on the floor exercise and has compiled an average score of 8.941 in nine meets this season. She posted a season high score of 9.525 in the February 16 dual against UW-Eau Claire.
The two-day championship event will begin on Friday, March 23 with the team and all-around finals as well as qualifying for the individual event finals. The top 12 scores (and ties) in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise on Friday will advance to the event finals on Saturday afternoon. The top six finishers in each event will earn All-America honors.