Rutgers Gymnasts To Compete In USA Collegiate National Championships
Apr 14 | Women's Gymnastics
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 14, 2010) - The Rutgers gymnastics team will travel to Denton, Texas for the 2010 USAG Collegiate National Championships Thursday through Saturday, April 15-17 inside Kitty Magee Arena on the Texas Women's University campus. The event will serve as the final meet of the season for the Scarlet Knights.
Action will get underway on Thursday with the team preliminary competition. The team finals, consisting of the top two teams from each session, will be held on Friday with individual event finals consisting of the top 10 individual competitors from Thursday's competition, taking place on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights will begin competition at 2 p.m. on Thursday, competing in the first session against Air Force, Seattle Pacific and Bridgeport. The top two teams from the first session will advance to face the top two teams from the second session (William & Mary, Cornell, Texas Women's University and Temple).
Fans can access a live video stream of the event by logging on to http://www.twuathletics.com/sports/2010/3/10/usag_0310103123.aspx?path=usag.
Rutgers is coming off an eighth-place performance at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championship with a team score of 187.650. The Scarlet Knights are averaging a 189.448 in their 13 meets this season, highlighted by a season-high 192.675 on March 13. The team average score is a more than a full point higher than last year's season average of 188.383.
The Scarlet Knights are competing as a team at the USAG Nationals after sending six gymnasts to the event last season. Five of the six Scarlet Knights will return to the meet this season. Scarlet Knight Danae Johnson (Silver Spring, Md.), a freshman last season, earned First Team All-America honors after finishing in the top-10 in the floor exercise with a 9.650 in last year's event, held on the campus of Southern Connecticut State in New Haven, Conn.
It will be the final meet for seniors Alyssa Lewandowski (Linden, N.J.), Prishani Seebadri (Wenonah, N.J.) and Laura Sevarino (Cheshire, Conn.). Lewandowski has been a standout performer on the on the vault and in the floor exercise this season with season-best scores of 9.800 in each event during the year. Despite seeing limited action while continuing her recovery from knee surgery in the offseason, Seebadri has made her mark on bars this season with a season-best 9.775 in the event at the EAGL Championships last time out. Sevarino has been one of RU's top all-arounders throughout her career. She posted a career-high score of 38.625 in the all-around in a victory over Penn on the road in January.
Bridgeport and Cornell shared the 2009 national championship title with matching team scores of 191.675. William & Mary came in third with a score of 191.100 while TWU finished fourth with 190.800.
