Gymnasts land in third place overall at NAIGC Nationals in New Mexico

Thursday, April 11

Albuquerque, NM

10:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

NAIGC Nationals

Senior Sophie Boone celebrates her third-place performance in the floor exercise with Mara Robinson (left in red), graduate AJ Kenniv (right in red) and teammates. (Photos by Allyson Hoffler)

Gymnasts land in third place overall at NAIGC Nationals in New Mexico

4/17/2024 1:33:00 PM | Gymnastics

Senior Sophie Boone earned a bronze medal in the floor exercise and freshman Sarah Dyk qualified for the All-Around finals to highlight the Lady Flames’ performances.

Gymnastics-portrait-formal — Liberty's 11 gymnasts combined for a third-place finish at Level 9, the highest division at the NAIGC National Championships.

Gallery: (4-17-2024) Gymnastics nationals

Liberty University's gymnastics team ranked second after preliminaries before landing in third place in the Level 9 team finals at last Wednesday's through Saturday's National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) Championships at the Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center.

"It was very well attended, with at least 100 teams there and a lot of action going on at the same time on four adjacent gyms," Liberty second-year Head Coach Jessie Lowe said.

The Lady Flames totaled 107.8 points to finish behind defending national champion Penn State (113.5) and Texas A&M (108.55) and ahead of other team finalists Florida State, JMU, and Rhode Island.

"Penn State is a perennial powerhouse," said Lowe, whose team finished runner-up to the Nittany Lions at nationals last year. "They have so much talent on their team that they were hard to catch. We actually beat Texas A&M in the prelims with a season-high 108.225 team performance, but (the Aggies) had a better day in finals and they passed us. It feels good to be in the top three. We have good depth on our team for sure and I was proud of their fight and their effort despite some errors."

Liberty gymnastics huddle — Liberty gymnasts huddle up before competing in Sunday's team finals.

Individually, senior Sophie Boone tied for third in the floor exercise, the only event she could perform to her best abilities in after breaking her elbow during the fall semester. She earned a score of 9.575 from the judges in the preliminaries and a 9.7 in the finals.

"That was a really cool moment because she has been through so much this season," Lowe said. "It was very redeeming, considering our year and the amount of adversity she and the entire team have faced. To see her compete with so much joy at the end and to do it successfully, that was a highlight for sure."

She noted that senior Charlie Bubenik tore a ligament in her ankle in January and still competed through it, as Boone did with her elbow injury.

"Neither of those girls got their injuries surgically repaired yet," Lowe said. "They waited until after competition season was over, which is a testament to their toughness and commitment to the team."

Freshman Sarah Dyk had one of the best meets of her career to qualify for both the All-Around final and the uneven bars final.

"That was a big accomplishment for her," Lowe said, noting that only the top 17 gymnasts qualified for All-Around finals as well as to finals in each of the four events. "It is always a big deal for Liberty to qualify someone in the All-Around final. Last year, Sophie (Boone) was our team's only All-Around qualifier though we had a handful of other finalists."

Though Dyk had a stronger performance in prelims, her 9.2 bar routine in finals placed her sixth overall in that event.

"She had a tough day in finals, missing two of her vaults, having a misconnection on the (balance) beam that cost her a little bit, and a fall on floor, but she hit a great bar routine and we used that score for our team final score," Lowe said.

Sarah Baugher qualified in the vault and on the beam and floor finals while fellow sophomore Isabelle Sierra qualified in the beam finals and freshman Kate Haluck advanced to the vault finals.

Charlie-Bubenik-bars-routine — Jessie Lowe celebrates Charlie Bubenik's successful bars routine.

All six teams competing in the team finals put up four athletes in each of the four events, with the top three scores counting toward their team totals.

"(Sophomore) Annabella (James) had a fall on the beam and a fall on bars in prelims, and she was only competing in the team event, but she had a great day on finals day, and she hit on vault, beam and floor for us," Lowe said.

"We started a little shaky on vault in the finals, and didn't have much power or execution, before Sarah Baugher hit a vault and Sarah Dyk and (freshman) Anna Messerschmidt hit their bar routines," Lowe added. "On the floor, we had Annabelle James hit her routine really solidly before (senior) Audrey Case hit a beautiful routine, and Sophie (Boone) capped it off with a bronze medal performance, so we killed it on floor. That was a fun way to finish a meet that we felt we left a little bit on the table."

Baugher's 9.65 score in the floor exercise placed her seventh individually.

The team of 12 gymnasts enjoyed the experience of traveling together out West, even riding a tram up a huge mountain range in New Mexico.

"That was really fun," Lowe said. "Overall, they did a really good job of representing Christ out there. They had a huge opportunity to do that in a competition setting and the girls took full advantage of it, encouraging people on other teams and encouraging each other. That was really special to see."

She said the youth of the team has her hopeful that they will be able to repeat their top-three finish next spring.

"Overall, nationals was a really good experience for our team, even if it wasn't the experience we were looking for," Lowe said. "We only have one girl who had been to nationals more than twice, and a lot of young athletes, freshmen and sophomores, so it was a great experience for all of them to grow together in and learn how to handle adversity and compete well under pressure.

Boone and Case are the only two gymnasts graduating this spring, and Lowe is optimistic about the future of the program.

"We do have a really good recruiting class coming in, and we are super excited about that," she said. "We have created a lot of excitement in our program and people are seeing the culture and the structure and the excitement and they want to be a part of it. That's created a lot of momentum in our recruiting."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Kylee (Lilge) Wright/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator

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