Holding up the eagle shaped trophy at home was an experience Camille Vitoff and Grace Vaillancourt will never forget. After coming into a program that had not made regionals in 20 years, to be ranked No. 21 in the country and win back to back EAGL titles is the culmination of a great career.
Vitoff arrived in Towson to a program that was ranked No. 58 in the country and was going through a coaching change. That change brought in Jay Ramirez and Ashley Sauer who put a focus on culture right away. The new staff encouraged the gymnasts to be resilient and have the mindset that they were great and can be great. That mindset was something sought after by Ramirez when it came to recruiting; he focused on finding the gymnasts that had that resilience.
In that first year the program already made a jump in the rankings up to No. 48. Vaillancourt’s class recognized the trajectory the program was on and wanted to be a part of it. They each held that resilient mindset and knew that the team could be great. The mindset is the first step, and the next step was honing on the details.
In the last two seasons, the bars rotation at Towson has been nationally ranked and an asset to the team. Vaillancourt attributes that success to the focus in competition of doing what you do every day in practice as consistency is key. Knowing what each gymnast in the lineup is capable of makes it easy to have confidence that each teammate will hit that routine. In practice the gymnasts hone in on those small details.
Vaillancourt recalled that in her sophomore year she would go up on bars in practice, and Ramirez told her “well, your left toe wasn’t pointed,” and have her go up again. While it frustrated Vaillancourt at the time “it paid off because those are the small tenths that are adding up in the end.”
By the time Vaillancourt was a junior and Vitoff was a senior, Towson had made it to regionals in back-to-back seasons and were to make it a third. That season, a big goal was able to be accomplished when Towson beat top competitors in N.C. State and North Carolina to take home its first EAGL title. That first title will hold a special place in the Tigers’ memories. The senior class that started their careers with Ramirez were able to see the program transformation culminate in a conference title.
Looking back at that moment, Vitoff was still in awe; “I don’t think we can recreate a better moment or ask for a better moment, especially because it came down to that last routine. It was literally the perfect movie moment, but it was really special for the whole team, but especially the upper class because we’ve just seen the climb and the jump and then for it to be awarded right at the end, and for it to all come together, it was really special.”
Besides the mental reminder, that team also has a physical one. The gymnasts knew they were capable of winning the EAGL title and there were discussions before the competition: If the team were to win, they should get matching tattoos. Vaillancourt recalled the thoughts after the competition, and after winning the team decided to go through with it because “why not?” As a close knit team the decision was easy.
Going into this season, having won the EAGL title the year prior, there was an internal need to recreate that accomplishment. During the season, the post season was the focus, but the coaching staff highlighted all of the accomplishments along the way. While the gymnasts did not know of the records being created during the competitions themselves, after meets the gymnasts would receive a report of all the records broken, from breaking the overall team program record, to smashing individual records.
After the second EAGL title, Towson went into regionals ranked No. 21, not needing to compete in the first round like the previous few years. While the competition outcome wasn’t ideal, Vitoff and Vaillancourt will be able to finish their careers knowing they left the program in a better place than they found it.
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Article by Alyssa Van Aauker
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