Liberty topped second- and third-place showings over the past three seasons with its first gold-medal showing at the NAIGC Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
Gymnasts land atop podium for program’s first NAIGC team championship
4/12/2026 7:08:00 AM | Gymnastics
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Sophomore Mali Campbell won the vault and floor exercise and placed second in the All-Around, and freshman Charis Ng struck gold on the beam to lead the Lady Flames.
Trailing Rhode Island and defending national champion Penn State after Thursday's and Friday's preliminary rounds, Liberty University's women's gymnastics team saved its best performances for last in Saturday's finals and captured its first-ever National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) Championship at the Birmingham (Ala.) Jefferson Convention Complex.
"We are the national champions," said Lady Flames fourth-year Head Coach Jesse Lowe, who guided the team to second-, third-, and second-place showings her first three seasons. "We had the best day in finals that we've ever had as a team. They went lights out on every event, so we were pretty confident that we'd done it (but) we chose not to look at the results until we went to the awards banquet and that made it really special for our team."
Sophomore Mali Campbell struck gold on both the vault (9.85) and floor exercise (9.65) and finished second in the All-Around to a gymnast representing Grand Canyon University as an individual.
"She nailed every routine today and finished 0.75 points away from (winning gold in) the All-Around," Lowe said.
As a team, Liberty totaled 113.975 points, paced by Campbell and freshman Charis Ng, the gold medalist on the balance beam with a 9.625 routine. That was the only event she qualified for the finals in individually, but Ng stood tall for the Lady Flames in the team competition.
"We had some really clutch performances from Charis," Lowe said. "She has been dealing with a severe heel injury and another ankle problem and she had a tough day in prelims. But she really toughed it out for us and stayed mentally strong and hit all three of her events for the team, putting up a 9.825 on vault and a huge 9.6 on floor as well, which was really clutch for our team."
That helped Liberty separate itself from three-time defending national champion Penn State, which placed second at 112.7, and Rhode Island (third at 109).
The Lady Flames' team unity and spirit were deciding factors in their finals performance.
Lowe said she was especially thrilled to see the Lady Flames stand atop the podium for the five graduating seniors on the team.
"It feels relieving and exciting that we finally got it done," she said. "They've been so capable for so many years. We've been building our culture on our team for so many years, and it feels like this was their moment to get it done, and they really took advantage of the moment."
She said the team's connectedness and confidence in each other made all the difference in the end.
"We had a pretty shaky prelims, when a lot of our skills went wrong and we had some off routines," Lowe said. "Today, they really set that aside and competed with an enormous amount of confidence.
It was a culmination of all the hard work for the entire team this season and for these past four years for the five seniors graduating."
Besides Campbell, junior captain Sarah Dyk and senior captain Annabella James also qualified for Liberty in the All-Around finals.
"Sarah had a fall on beam and Annabella had a fall on floor, so they didn't fare the best, but they both contributed to the team score and hit their routines when it mattered," Lowe said.
