2016 Rutgers Gymnastics Review
May 23 | Women's Gymnastics
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Under the direction of head coach Louis Levine, Rutgers gymnastics made strides in its second year in the Big Ten, moving up at the conference championships, sending multiple individuals to NCAA Regionals and re-writing the school record book. The Scarlet Knights topped the 195-mark three times during the campaign, reaching a season-high of 195.475.
The program continued to draw large crowds in each of its four home meets. The first two were held at the RAC against Big Ten opponents, with the final two being sellouts at the Livingston Gym. The last seven meets at the facility have been sold out dating back to 2014. In addition, RU was seen twice live on Big Ten Network on the road.
Individually, freshman Michelle Amoresano (Whippany, N.J.) (vault), sophomore Libby Groden (Abbottstown, Pa.) (all-around) and senior Nicolette Wilson (Toms River, N.J.) (vault) all qualified for NCAA Regionals. RU has had representatives at NCAAs in each of the five seasons under Levine.
The Scarlet Knights scored a 49 on every event at least once during the season. Floor exercise ended up as the highest RQS at 48.935, while vault was closely behind at 48.865. The improvement was evident with a conference win over Maryland and moving up from a 193.125 in 2015 to a 194.775 at the Big Ten Championships. Rutgers hit all 24 routines in its final meet, as freshman Riahanah Ali (Ann Arbor, Mich.) capped her rookie season by earning a spot on the All-Championship Team for floor.
The senior class made its mark with numerous accomplishments and memories over their time in Piscataway. The group included fifth-year senior Emma Hoffman (Union, N.J.) and four-year members Claudia Salinas (Allendale, N.J.), Katie Stebick (Waterford, N.J.), Jenna Williams (Bordentown, N.J.) and Wilson. The program honored them on Senior Day, a meet where RU took first in a quad meet.
Levine offered more thoughts on the season…
General thoughts on the season: "I think overall we had a positive season. Obviously, we started slower than we would have liked and then towards the middle of the season we hit our stride, and kept taking that momentum to get better and better. Unfortunately we ran out of time at the end of the year. I wish we would have got our stride a little sooner and then that postseason run is right there. It was nice to get some Big Ten wins this year, but overall I believe everyone stepped up. Whenever someone was out of the lineup, someone stepped in and did a really great job. The resiliency of this team was really impressive."
On year two in the Big Ten: "We handled it much better this year than the first year. The first year was really a lot of learning. This year we went in knowing what to expect. We stepped up our game and we just need to continue stepping it up a little bit more. But overall, we knew what to expect. We went in there and pushed."
On the Big Ten Championships: "I thought the Big Ten Championships was our best performance of the year, which is what you are always looking for. Scoring wasn't exactly the way you would like it to be, but overall it was one of our top performances. And when you do that in a championship meet with the pressure, live TV and everything else going on, you can't ask for much more than that."
On improvement: "I think a lot of it was experience. We competed a lot of freshmen and sophomores and some people got healthy, some people back, some people came up out of lineups, but like I said before I think everyone just stepped up. Maybe it was a 9.8 replacing a 9.9 or a 9.7 replacing a 9.8 or maybe it was a 9.8 replacing a 9.8. People were doing really good for what they could do, the best to their ability. And that is what you are looking for. There were a lot of people who did better than I could have expected. And obviously I'll expect that and more from them moving forward. But I think we gain a lot of good experience and good knowledge this year and use that to continue to improve."
On if there were any surprises: "We probably used more people in the lineup this year than the entire time I have been here. I think we used 11 or 12 people on beam alone. It was pretty much two full lineups. That's more than what some people have on their whole team. But again, somebody went down and somebody else was ready to get in there and perform well and they did that. For us to get up to the upper echelon of the Big Ten, everybody has to step up. Everybody has to do one more tenth in their routines. If everyone get that one more tenth then top in the Big Ten scores, and then you are with the best of the best."
On sending three to NCAA Regionals: "They all did very well all season long. Michelle, as a freshman, did a new vault and had a really good year. Nicolette had her best season as a senior. She was consistently one of our better vaulters all year long. And then Libby was a great all-arounder. She was really consistent throughout the year. After a little slow start, she had one of her best meets of her career at Regionals. It's a big step in the right direction."
On the senior class: "With them, it was a little bit of a different class. It was a pretty big class. We brought them in to fill in a lot of holes. Sometimes it was just one event. Claudia was one event, the beam her whole career. Nicolette (vault) and Katie (floor) were mainly one-event people. Jenna Williams obviously had a great career from making Regionals three times and competing several events throughout her career. Emma as a fifth-year competed in three events for us. She really stepped up for when we needed her. And same thing with Jenna. They ended up as two of our better vaulters and they weren't in the lineup at the beginning of the year. You never know where you start or where you end. As a group they did a really good job."
On vault: "Vault was probably the event we used the least amount of numbers on this year. But it was consistently one of our better events. They changed the start value on vault this year. The scores were going to be a little lower but we didn't see a lot of a drop off because our vaulters got that much better. We used eight people on vault this year. But everyone who stepped in did a really good job and we concluded with a great rotation at the Big Ten Championships."
On bars: "I could have not guessed that bars would have ended up the way it did. It probably is the hardest event for us as a team. Obviously, we finished on a high note with some really good routines at the Big Ten Championships. I think the biggest surprise for me was Micki (Makenzey Shank) on the bars. For someone who did not compete as a freshman on bars to becoming an anchor, I think she did good. Libby did a great job being our leadoff on every event. She started this year on bars with a bit of a different routine. But once we made the adjustment, we hit routines and it really helped. Overall, whether it was Charly Santagado or Emma, they all had their moments. We look forward for that event to continue to improve."
On balance beam: "I think beam was our best event. We have some potential all-conference beam routines. One through six, all of them can score really well. Beam can be one of those events that can be very mental, and I thought that's where our mental strength really showed up the most week-in and week-out. We used a lot of people, but week after week whoever went in they stepped up and they did a good job."
On floor: "Floor was solid. I thought floor got better and better as the season went on. The routines were more consistent and the dynamic of our routines got better. Overall, a strong event and I'm really happy with how floor went."
On the offseason: "The offseason is a time to get healthy. It's a time to try to get stronger. The hope is that we all get better. For the next six months, it is time to improve and learn new things. In many ways, it can be the most exciting time and fun time of the year. I look forward to seeing everyone get better and come back ready for next season."
On the future: "We're excited. Right now we have a great group of recruits coming in next year to add to the team that we have. The future is bright. Hard work and determination are what is really going to make the difference between taking a big step forward and not. That's led by the group. It's all about the group dynamic and how hard they push and work with each other to get better."
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Players Mentioned
