The NCGA-East has been affected hard by COVID-19 policies. Brockport, Cortland and Ithaca have all had their winter sports seasons canceled for 2021. That leaves Springfield, Ursinus and Rhode Island as the lone schools in this conference.
While there’s still so much uncertainty surrounding the upcoming season, it’s business as usual until we hear otherwise. That means it’s time for our annual potential lineups analysis! With preseason training in full swing for most teams, we’re breaking it all down and taking a look at every squad’s prospects for 2021—from who’s expected to contribute, holes that need to be filled and exciting upgrades fans should look out for.
No. 74 Springfield College
Springfield had some ups and downs but proved that it had what it takes to compete with the top schools in the division, especially after a season high of 189.925.
| Losses: | Taylor Campagnone (UB, BB, FX), Victoria Gendreau (FX), Brooke Hensen (VT), Taylor Jackson (VT, UB), Sarah Murphy (UB, BB), Tali Twomey (VT, FX) |
| Gains: | Naya Robinson, Jenna DiPalo, Rae Schutz, Annie Kiley, Danah MacLeod, Adi Ramos |
Vault
Potential Contributors: Ali Rushlow (9.545), Kaitlyn Lindsay (9.290), Tori Sipes, Kayla Deecher, Dominique Chaves, Tabby Schwab, Sara Fisher, Sara King, Emma Kotfila, MacKenzie MacLeod, Sophie Parquet, Devon Rosier, Naya Robinson, Jenna DiPalo, Rae Schutz, Annie Kiley, Danah MacLeod, Adi Ramos
How It Looked Before: Springfield had a consistent vault lineup but lacked the difficulty needed to compete with the top DIII teams on this specific event.
How It Looks Now: Springfield will really be looking to replace Taylor Jackson’s giant front handspring front vault. With a few upgrades, this lineup could really help give the team the edge it needs to push it to the top of the division.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell.
Bars
Potential Contributors: Sara King (9.520), Tori Sipes (9.395), Alana Calabrese (9.145), Dominique Chaves, Kayla Deecher, Leah Jewett, Emma Kotfila, MacKenzie MacLeod, Lena Morant, Sophie Parquet, Devon Rosier, Ali Rushlow, Tori Sipes, Christina Wygonik, Naya Robinson, Jenna DiPalo, Rae Schutz, Annie Kiley, Danah MacLeod, Adi Ramos
How It Looked Before: The Pride always seemed to stay in the middle of the division on bars. This is another event it just lacked the difficulty needed to make its way toward the top.
How It Looks Now: With the loss of three bar routines, Springfield will be looking to its incoming freshmen to help build up lineups.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell.
Beam
Potential Contributors: Sara King (9.525), Tori Sipes (9.370), Sophie Parquet (9.135), Leah Jewett (8.625), Alana Calabrese, Emma Kotfila, MacKenzie MacLeod, Devon Rosier, Ali Rushlow, Taylor Tattan, Naya Robinson, Jenna DiPalo, Rae Schutz, Annie Kiley, Danah MacLeod, Adi Ramos
How It Looked Before: Beam was a strong event for Springfield where it always found itself at the top of the conference.
How It Looks Now: Sara King’s gorgeous beam routine, which consists of a unique front aerial round off series, will be back for another season. Losing Taylor Campagnone’s and Sarah Murphy’s consistency will be a little nerve wracking, but there are a lot of possibilities available to replace those holes.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? There have not been many training updates from Springfield, so it is hard to tell what it has in store this season.
Floor
Potential Contributors: Ali Rushlow (9.430), MacKenzie MacLeod (9.375), Devon Rosier (9.320), Sophie Parquet (9.315), Dominique Chaves, Kayla Deecher, Sara King, Emma Kotfila, Kaitlyn Lindsay, Tabby Schwab, Tori Sipes, Christina Wygonik, Naya Robsinson, Jenna DiPalo, Rae Schutz, Annie Kiley, Danah MacLeod, Adi Ramos
How It Looked Before: Floor was another strong event for the Pride. It had the difficulty and depth, which made it so successful that when former national champion Tali Twomey was injured, it had other routines to choose from that kept it at the top of the conference.
How It Looks Now: Ali Rushlow will be bringing back her impressive floor routine that includes a double pike and double tuck. Since Springfield had to find routines last season to replace Twomey, things look positive for 2021 in regards to finding routines to replace graduating seniors.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Trending up.
Overall Outlook
Springfield’s consistency and clean skills gave it the success needed to stay toward the top of the NCGA-East. However, to compete for the top of the division it will need to add more difficulty overall to earn the scores needed to break the 189-190 range more frequently.
No. 76 Ursinus
Ursinus seemed to go a little under the radar, but when it hit, it showed that it had what it takes to be successful. The team score seemed to vary week to week, from 183.450 one week to 187.200 the next.
| Losses: | Breanna Couts (VT, FX), Skylar Haas (BB, FX), Eleanor LaFountain (AA), Autumn Snape (BB, FX), Sabrina Tusavitz (VT, UB, FX), Shruthi Anand (AA), |
| Gains: | Ashley Cromer, Carly Troilo, Elisabeth Tucker |
Vault
Potential Contributors: Taylor Cusick (9.485), Emma Gable (9.435), Alex Panetta (9.415), Hailey DiCicco (9.325), Emma Brown, Olivia Byrne, Ashley Cromer, Alyssa DeLorme, Kaylin Knapsack, Gabrielle Pitt, Kasey Ricci, Abigail Schwerdt, Danielle Terrenzio, Lindsey Thornton, Carly Troilo, Elisabeth Tucker
How It Looked Before: Ursinus was extremely consistent on this event, finishing each week toward the top of the NCGA-East but lacking difficulty to break into the 48.000 range.
How It Looks Now: The Bears are losing Breanna Couts’ and Shruthi Anand’s vaults, but with Taylor Cusick, Emma Gable, Alex Panetta and Hailey DiCicco coming back, things look bright on this event.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell but likely trending up.
Bars
Potential Contributors: Alex Panetta (9.580), Hailey DiCicco (9.415), Abigail Schwerdt (9.300), Emma Gable (9.165), Alyssa DeLorme (9.010), Olivia Byrne, Ashley Cromer, Taylor Cusick, Kasey Ricci, Danielle Terrenzio, Lindsey Thornton, Carly Troilo, Elisabeth Tucker
How It Looked Before: Ursinus frequently finished right behind Brockport on this event in the NCGA-East week to week. With bars being a weaker event for DIII overall, the Bears proved their strength here.
How It Looks Now: Ursinus is only losing one or two routines with most of its bar lineup returning for the 2021 season. This will be a great opportunity to add some difficulty to the returning routines.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Trending up.
Beam
Potential Contributors: Kaylin Knapsack (9.670), Alyssa DeLorme (9.305), Taylor Cusick (8.825), Abigail Schwerdt (8.755), Emma Brown, Ashley Cromer, Hailey DiCicco, Emma Gable, Alex Panetta, Gabrielle Pitt, Kasey Ricci, Danielle Terrenzio, Lindsey Thornton, Carly Troilo, Elisabeth Tucker
How It Looked Before: Beam seemed to be a weaker event for the Bears only because of some consistency issues. Almost all of their routines had the possibility of scoring at least a 9.500, but they struggled having the whole lineup hit in competition.
How It Looks Now: Losing Skylar Haas, who had a high of 9.850, is not ideal for the Bears, but Kaylin Knapsack, who was one beam routine they could always count on for a consistent score, will be back.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell. If Ursinus works on its ability to hit under pressure, it will definitely have more success.
Floor
Potential Contributors: Kaylin Knapsack (9.705), Hailey DiCicco (9.270), Taylor Cusick (9.260), Emma Gable (9.240), Emma Brown, Ashley Cromer, Alyssa DeLorme, Alex Panetta, Gabrielle Pitt, Kasey Ricci, Danielle Terrenzio, Lindsey Thornton, Carly Troilo, Elisabeth Tucker
How It Looked Before: Floor showed to be the weakest event for the Bears. Toward the end of the season Ursinus was frequently scoring in the 46.000 range and struggled to get into the 47.000s.
How It Looks Now: Knapsack returning is a big positive for Ursinus on this event. She was the most consistent with a high of 9.775. There are not many training upgrades. but from its “Meet the Freshmen”’ posts on social media, freshman Carly Troilo’s favorite skill is a back two and a half on floor, which would definitely benefit the floor lineup.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell.
Overall Outlook
Overall, Ursinus has a lot of consistent gymnasts returning, which gives the team room to play around with adding difficulty to its routines. A lot of the issues seemed to be around consistency in meets, which can easily be fixed in training.
No. 79 Rhode Island College
Rhode Island had a disappointing 2020, struggling to break the 180.000 mark all season long. it will be looking to prove itself in 2021 by really working on hitting routines under pressure.
| Losses: | Grace Davis (BB, FX), Chandler Lynn (FX), Kyndel Yett (VT, UB, FX) |
| Gains: | Olivia Keyes, Jolie Carpino, Julia Yitts, Morgan Wenzel |
| Returning From Injury: | Megan Lipponen |
Vault
Potential Contributors: Christa Vaccaro (9.360), Kelsey Gates (9.265), Sydney Talabac (9.190), Sara Proctor (9.180), Kayla Smith (9.145), Krystina Ciardi, Alison Kleinebreil, Megan Lipponen, Victoria Schlawiedt, Alison Silva, Olivia Keyes, Jolie Carpino, Julia Yitts, Morgan Wenzel
How It Looked Before: Vault has always been one of Rhode Island’s most consistent events. it just lacks the difficult vaults needed to compete with the rest of the division.
How It Looks Now: Rhode Island is losing Kyndel Yett, who it has relied on for a strong Yurchenko layout, but that is the only vault it is losing. With four incoming freshmen, Rhode Island should be able to maintain its consistency on this event.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Things can trend up if the team works on cleaning up form and landings.
Bars
Potential Contributors: Kelsey Gates (9.030), Christa Vaccaro (8.745), Kaela Skerl (8.575), Victoria Schlawiedt, Shaina Benz, Krystina Ciardi, Alison Silva, Kayla Smith, Olivia Keyes, Jolie Carpino, Julia Yitts, Morgan Wenzel
How It Looked Before: Rhode Island has always struggled to find enough strong bar routines to fill a lineup. It did not have the consistency or difficulty needed for its gymnasts to get into the 9.000 range.
How It Looks Now: Kelsey Gates and her simple-yet-clean bar routine will be coming back for another season. Rhode Island will most likely have to rely on incoming freshmen to add more depth to this event.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell.
Beam
Potential Contributors: Ali Peterman (9.100), Kelsey Gates (9.060), Alison Silva (8.865), Alison Kleinebreil (8.580), Shaina Benz (8.250), Megan Lipponen, Victoria Schlawiedt, Amber Shelly, Kaela Skerl, Sydney Talabac, Olivia Keyes, Jolie Carpino, Julia Yitts, Morgan Wenzel
How It Looked Before: Rhode Island has been able to add more difficulty to this event over the years, yet consistency has always been an issue. When the team is on, it has the potential to score in the 46.000s, but on its off days it falls to the 42.000s or 43.000s.
How It Looks Now: Losing Grace Davis, who had a solid back handspring + layout step-out, leaves a pretty big hole in the lineup. Rhode Island will be looking to freshman Jolie Carpino, who also has a handspring layout step-out, to help fill that spot.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Trending up as long as they can hit their beam routines in competition.
Floor
Potential Contributors: Kelsey Gates (9.485), Kaela Skerl (9.205), Alison Kleinebreil (9.195), Shaina Benz, Megan Lipponen, Victoria Schlawiedt, Amber Shelly, Alison Silva, Christa Vaccaro, Olivia Keyes, Jolie Carpino, Julia Yitts, Morgan Wenzel
How It Looked Before: Floor is an event that Rhode Island used to make up for its weaknesses on bars. Chandler Lynn and Kyndel Yett both had double tucks that helped push the team score into the 46.000s with a high of 47.175.
How It Looks Now: All three of Rhode Island’s graduated seniors were in the floor lineup, which will force Head Coach Monica Nassi to rely on the incoming freshmen to fill in. Freshman Julia Yitts has been seen training a front full + front full, which would be a great addition to the lineup.
Trending up, down or too early to tell? Too early to tell.
Overall Outlook
Rhode Island will need to rely heavily on the incoming freshmen as well as see underclassmen step up and add some much needed difficulty to their routines to make up for the holes that their three graduating seniors leave.
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Article by Allie DiBiase
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