Women’s History Month, Mary (Leivian) Taylor (’05)
OSHKOSH, Wis.- This Women's History Month, UW-Oshkosh Athletics is proud to honor our female Hall of Famers in a series of eight stories throughout March. This campaign creates the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our female Hall of Famers. Our eighth and final story will look at what Hall of Fame class of 2005 member Mary (Leivian) Taylor did with the Titans and her life after Oshkosh.
Mary (Leivian) Taylor ('05), an Oshkosh North High School graduate, came to UW-Oshkosh in 1985 to study Elementary Education, joining UW-Oshkosh and National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Hall of Fame member Phyllis Hardt's team. Over her four years competing for the Titans, she collected 19 All-America nods, nine National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) titles, two NCAA Division II titles and 14 WIAC titles. She was a member of three WIAC champion teams with a national title in the NAIA and a NCGA title. She still holds the most WIAC individual titles in program history, with Debbie (Lindemer) Stenson ('01) sitting in second with nine.
Taylor wasted no time earning hardware, winning the floor exercise, uneven bars, vault, and all-around titles at the then-called WWIAC Championship, leading the team to their eighth consecutive meet win. At the NAIA Championship, she won the uneven bars, vault and all-around, also taking second on the floor exercise and third on the balance beam for five All-America honors. Her finish helped the team win their second national title and only NAIA national title. She then moved on to the NCAA Division II Championship, where she recorded first place finishes on the uneven bars and all-around before competing on the floor exercise at the NCAA Division I Championship.
In her sophomore season, Taylor continued her dominance on the mat when she led Oshkosh to their ninth consecutive conference title, again winning the floor exercise, uneven bars, vault and all-around. At the NAIA Championship she grabbed first on the uneven bars and all-around, also collecting second on the floor exercise and third on the vault. The team finished third at the national meet that year. She also competed at the NCAA meet, winning the balance beam and all-around as well as at the United States Gymnastics Federation (the predecessor to the current United States Gymnastics) meet, winning the balance beam and all-around.
Taylor was phenomenal in the Titans second place and fifth place finishes at the 1988 WWIAC Championship and NAIA Championships. At conference, she swept all five events, becoming the first gymnast in WIAC history to do so. She also became the first competitor to win the vault and uneven bars for three consecutive years. The Titans finished fifth at the NAIA Championship that year, with first place performances from Taylor on the uneven bars, floor exercise and all-around and a second place score on the vault. She concluded the year with another appearance at the NCAA Division I meet.
Not to be outdone by herself, she set another record at the WWIAC Championship during her senior season, becoming the only gymnast in conference history to win the all-around four years in a row. Oshkosh started competing at the NCGA Championship for the first time in 1989 and received a normal performance from the greatest Titan in program history. Taylor won the vault, floor exercise and all-around to cap her career with a pivotal role in the team's third national title and first NCGA title (they have since won in 2007, 2022 and 2023).
At the end of her career with Oshkosh, she was and remains one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of the WIAC and NAIA. She held the record for every event but has since been surpassed in all.
Taylor graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and served as the head girls gymnastics coach at Oshkosh North High School for 10 years. Today, Leivian lives in Oshkosh with her husband, Steve. They have two sons, Riley and Dylan. She is employed as the technology coordinator at the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh.
She was named to the WIAC All-Time Women's Gymnastics Team in 2012 when the conference was celebrating its Centennial Anniversary. Four other Titans were included on the team including Stenson who was a teammate during the 1986 season. In 2017, the NCGA inducted her into their Hall of Fame, she was joined in the same induction class by Titan coaching duo Phyllis and Dale Hardt.