Let’s set the scene: “Believe” by Cher was bumping on the radio, Madonna’s “Ray of Light” won Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs, “Titanic” took home Best Picture of the Year while we were still being kind and rewinding our VHS tapes, heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas was the Kids’ Choice Awards favorite TV actor, Hanson was playing nonstop in our Discmans, and Olivia Keyes was still three years from entering this world. It was 1998, and until now, it was the last time Rhode Island set sail to NCGA nationals as a team.
Jumping the timeline forward, along came 2011, when the program was nearly cut, and the program had to kick into a new gear, a new era, when the gymnastics team was able to stay.
But the 2025 Rhode Island College gymnastics season isn’t about what happened then, it’s about how far the program has come and the force it is today. If you’re not current about the oceans the Anchorwomen have sailed this season, here’s a little refresher: They set a team program record of 192.125, a team record on bars with a 47.550, Keyes set a record with a 9.700 on bars, and a 38.725 in the all-around. A couple of weeks later, they bumped the team score to a 192.725 and added a 48.625 record on beam. So to say this team was in ship-shape from the get-go is an understatement.
After just missing out on qualifying to nationals last season, Rhode Island’s banner was a playful yet direct message to themselves, “Seas the moment.” And seize the moment is exactly what Rhode Island did from the start. For Olivia Keyes, it was a way to focus the team on enjoying its moment while doing its best, and making it all happen. “We were all extremely hungry and eager to make it happen,” she said, “the whole team knew the goal, knew the plan,” and everyone was all in.
Qualifying as an at-large team was no given and the pressure was on during the NCGA-East regional; in two different rotations, the Rhode Island line-up had pressure to hit and hit well to steer clear of counting any falls or hiccups. Not a problem for this team, though, as they had just shaken off a rough bar rotation from their last meet. “[We got] right back on track and focused on seizing the moment and trusting ourselves,” Keyes said. A trust that was evident from the top to the bottom of the lineup, no matter the pressure.
For the team, this moment had been a goal since the start of the season, Monica Mesalles Nassi commented. During the season, the goal was to improve meet after meet, something the team hadn’t always done in past years, but this season, instead of taking it meet by meet, they channeled their focus on making it to nationals right from the jump.
At the close of the NCGA-East regional meet, no celebrations were to be had just yet. With the second WIAC session still to go, Rhode Island’s fate was still to be determined. It was on the bus ride home the same night that the Anchorwomen would learn together that they solidified their spot as an at-large team and would soon be heading to Minnesota – but this time, and for the first time in a long time, as a team.
“Everyone started screaming and crying,” Keyes said of the minute they learned. They were doing this together. A dream Keyes had held since she joined the team as a freshman. “The goal since I’ve been here was to get the team to nationals and to finally accomplish that, I feel like I can breathe a little bit,” said Keyes. While the team ramps up for nationals, Keyes and the team can enjoy the time being with one another, relishing the fleeting moments, while working on ever-important upgrades to their routines, fine-tuning to the very end.
However the chalk falls at nationals, Keyes and Aaliyah Krause have both been part of a historic path at Rhode Island that won’t soon be forgotten. Like Keyes as a freshman, Krause, a leading member of the Makes a Front Handspring Front Tuck Look Easy Club, said she “knew this team was something special from the beginning.” As though gazing into a crystal ball, little could Krause know that feeling was a sign of the season to come. And so very much like Keyes at the start of her collegiate career, Krause was named NCGA-East Rookie of the Year, too.
For Nassi, the next goal is clear: have fun, work in upgrades, but most importantly, “go out there and make sure we’re all in.” The Anchorwomen have been all in since day one, hungry, eager, and now they’ve proved that they’re more than ready to dance.
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Article by Allison Freeman
