Buffington, Karnitz, Gildernick Receive West Region Gymnastics Awards
Sophomore Emily Buffington and head coach Lauren Karnitz of the UW-Oshkosh women's gymnastics team along with UW-Oshkosh Assistant Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator Abby Gildernick were presented West Region awards at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Championship held Saturday (March 26) in Ithaca, N.Y.
Buffington was named West Region Gymnast of the Year and Karnitz West Region Coach of the Year for the 2022 season from the NCGA. The NCGA selected Gildernick as its 2022 West Region Administrator of the Year.
Buffington finished first on the uneven bars, 21st in the floor exercise and 43rd on the vault to lead UW-Oshkosh to the team title at last Saturday's NCGA Championship. UW-Oshkosh won the six-team meet with a Division III-record score of 194.100 for its fifth national title in program history and first since 2007.
Buffington and three other gymnasts – Taylor Bushey of State University of New York at Brockport, Kerrie Legault of UW-La Crosse and Winter Osborne of Springfield College – shared first place on the uneven bars with a score of 9.800. The NCGA title was the first for Buffington and 18th for the UW-Oshkosh gymnastics program.
Buffington additionally earned scores of 9.70 in the floor exercise and 9.10 on the vault at last Saturday's national meet.
Earlier this month, Buffington was the 2022 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Year.
Buffington helped UW-Oshkosh successfully defend its team title by finishing first on both the vault and uneven bars at the WIAC Championship held March 5 in Whitewater.
Buffington's winning score of 9.875 on the vault established UW-Oshkosh and championship records while her victorious result of 9.85 on the uneven bars matched school and championship records. She also placed 28th in the floor exercise at this year's championship with a score of 9.40.
Karnitz picked up her first NCGA West Region Coach of the Year decoration after being named the 2022 WIAC Coach of the Year earlier this month. The three-time WIAC Coach of the Year selection was chosen as the NCGA National Coach of the Year in both 2019 and 2020.
UW-Oshkosh had five gymnasts – Buffington (uneven bars), Trinity Sawyer (floor exercise and vault), Emily Gilot (vault), Rahdea Jarvis (uneven bars) and Olivia Keller (balance beam) – earn All-America recognition at last Saturday's NCGA Championship.
UW-Oshkosh's school-record score at the NCGA Championship was reached by counting 48.625 points in the floor exercise, 48.575 on the balance beam, 48.500 on the uneven bars and 48.400 on the vault. The Titans' vault score also established a new school mark.
Karnitz guided UW-Oshkosh to an undefeated record against its Division III rivals this season, including a victory at the eight-team WIAC Championship with a then school-record score of 192.300. The win also secured UW-Oshkosh's automatic bid to the NCGA Championship.
Karnitz is in her 15th season as UW-Oshkosh's head coach. The Crystal Lake, Ill., native has coached 14 Titans to 36 NCGA All-America citations, including current assistant coach Baylee Tkaczuk who won consecutive national uneven bars titles in 2017 and 2018.
Karnitz competed for the Titans from 2003-06. She earned All-WIAC honors in the floor exercise in 2004 and qualified for the final in the floor exercise at the 2006 NCGA Championship.
Karnitz earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from UW-Oshkosh in 2006 and 2012, respectively.
Gildernick joined the UW-Oshkosh athletics administration staff in January and has collaborated with Director of Athletics Darryl Sims in leading the department's 19-sport program.
Gildernick is the primary contact for student-athlete compliance and the department's Name, Image and Likeness efforts. She also oversees several sports and leads the organization of regular season events as well as conference and national championship events hosted by UW-Oshkosh.
Gildernick came to UW-Oshkosh from St. Norbert College, where she was promoted to the title of Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator this past August. She served three years as the school's Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator prior to her promotion.
Gildernick played four years of softball for St. Norbert College before graduating from the school in 2014.
The De Pere native was the coordinator of athletics at Lawrence University from 2015-17 while serving as an assistant coach for the school's women's basketball team.
Gildernick was a graduate assistant for women's basketball and a graduate assistant within the sports administration department at Eastern Kentucky University during the 2017-18 school year. She acquired her master's degree from the school in 2018.