Titans Headed to Winona to Compete in NCGA National Championship
OSHKOSH, Wis.- The defending national champion UW-Oshkosh gymnastics team is headed to Winona, Minn. to compete in the 38th National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championship on Saturday March 25.
The meet will be held in Winona State University's McGown Gymnasium, starting at 2 p.m. Gymnasts will be competing for the team and five individual (all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise) national titles.
Tickets are available online and will be available in-person starting at 1 p.m. Tickets for adults are $10, senior citizens and children are $5 and children under five get in free.
The Titans have competed in 17 previous NCGA Championships, winning the title in 1989, 2007 and 2022, finishing second in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 2001 and finishing third in 1992 and 2006. Oshkosh previously won women's gymnastics titles at the 1980 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division III and the 1986 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships before joining the NCGA in 1989.
They reached this year's meet by winning the WIAC Championship/NCGA West Regional for the third season in a row, with a WIAC Championship record breaking team score of 193.100 points, on March 11 at the Kolf Sports Center. Joining Oshkosh in Winona from the West Region will be UW-La Crosse, who took second place with 191.850 points and UW-Stout, who scored 190.475 points.
East Region title winner, State University of New York Brockport (192.200), second-place Springfield College (Mass.) (189.150) and third-place Ithaca College (N.Y.) (189.050) will be representing the East Region on Saturday. Brockport won the East Region for the third year in a row and fifth time in six seasons.
In addition to the six teams that qualified for this year's championship, seven other programs will be represented with individual qualifiers. UW-Whitewater had 10 gymnasts earn at-large bids, Winona State had five, Rhode Island College and Ursinus College (Pa.) each had four, State University of New York Cortland and UW-Eau Claire each had two and Hamline University (Minn.) had one.
Six of the top eight programs in RoadtoNationals.com's Division III Rating Index will compete in the national championship. Brockport leads all NCGA programs with an average finish of 190.872 points. Oshkosh ranks second with 190.553, La Crosse third with 190.447, Ithaca fifth with 188.853, Springfield seventh with 187.994 and UW-Stout sixth with 187.944.
Junior Emily Buffington leads all NCGA gymnasts in the all-around, owning a season average score of 38.2688 points with a program record 38.800 points at the WIAC Championship. Reanna McGibboney finished the season in third on the vault with a 9.7813 season average score. Buffington and sophomore Mia Lucero sit at seventh and eighth with average scores of 9.7438 and 9.7375, respectively. On the balance beam, sophomore Delaney Cienkus is ranked fourth, averaging 9.7438 points on the season. She is also ranked on the floor exercise with an average of 9.7500.
The defending national champion Titans claimed the first NCGA championship after the 2020 and 2021 championships were canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Oshkosh claimed the crown with a program and NCGA Championship record score of 194.100 at Ithaca College on March 26, 2022. Brockport won the 2018 and 2019 titles.
Oshkosh will compete on the floor exercise in Rotation Two, the vault on Rotation Three, uneven bars on Rotation Five and balance beam on Rotation Six, while having byes during Rotation One and Four.
The top three teams at Saturday's championship receive a trophy while individuals finishing first through sixth (and ties) in the balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars and vault collect All-America medals. The top eight finishers in the all-around competition also earn an All-America decoration.
Individually, Oshkosh boasts 18 national titles (13 gymnasts). Oshkosh student-athletes have combined to earn 108 All-America awards throughout the history of the NCGA Championship.
Meet information can be found here. A championship apparel shop has been created and it will remain open until Monday March 27.