St. Peter, Minn. – Three Gustavus Adolphus gymnasts will compete in the 2013 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championships held March 22 and 23 in Whitewater, Wis. Sam Opsahl (Sr., Forest Lake, Minn.), Bailey Zeinert (Sr., Oshkosh, Wis.), and Jamie Ries (Monticello, Minn.) will represent the Gusties at this year’s national meet being held in the Williams Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.
The 2013 NCGA Championships will begin on Friday, March 22 with the march-in taking place at 5:00 p.m. Competing in Flight A will be Brockport, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater, and the specialists from the east. Flight B will include UW-La Crosse, Cortland, Ursinus, and the west specialists. An awards ceremony will take place following Friday’s competition.
Riding the momentum of the best performance of her collegiate career, Sam Opsahl will look to once again shine on the balance beam. Opsahl stole the show for the Gusties at the 2013 WIAC Championships on March 9, becoming the first Gustie in over five years to earn a spot on the podium after turning in a routine of 9.575 on the beam to finish in a five-way tie for second place. The Forest Lake, Minn. native is making her second straight appearance at NCGA Championships. She scored a 9.200 on the beam to finish 27th and a 9.075 on the floor to finish 40th at last year’s meet held in Brockport, N.Y. Opsahl’s best performance on the bar this year came at the Best of Minnesota Invite where she put together a 9.625 routine.
Also competing on the balance beam will be fellow senior Bailey Zeinert who is also making her second consecutive showing at the meet. Zeinert scored an 8.525 on the beam last year in Brockport to place 50th. Being a product of Oshkosh, Wis., Bailey will conclude her Gustavus career in her home state this weekend. She has scored over a 9.000 on the beam five times this season including a season-best 9.400 performance at the WIAC Championships. She placed 14th at the conference meet with her showing on the beam.
To round out the trio of Gusties, Jamie Ries will participate in the uneven parallel bars. Now in her third year donning a three-crowned leotard, Ries has qualified for the NCGA Championships in every year of her collegiate career. Last year, Jamie turned in a 31st place finish on the floor after scoring a 9.275 and a 37th place mark on the vault after a 9.225 routine. Ries’s season-high score on the bars in 2013 is a 9.325, which she scored twice at the Hamline Dual (Feb. 8) and UW-La Crosse Dual (March 1). The Monticello, Minn. product placed 16th on the bars at the WIAC Championships after scoring an 8.950.
The finals for the individual competition will take place on Saturday, March 23 and will begin with the march-in at 4:00 p.m. The awards ceremony is set to follow at 6:00 p.m.
For vital information on the upcoming NCGA Championships, such as schedule, qualifiers, rotation schedule, ticket information, and directions, please follow the link below to the tournament website.