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Women's Gymnastics

UW-Oshkosh has won three NCGA titles - 1989, 2007 and 2022.
UW-Oshkosh has won three NCGA titles - 1989, 2007 and 2022.

Titans Win Fifth National Gymnastics Title

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Emily Buffington captured first place on the uneven bars and Trinity Sawyer earned a pair of All-America awards to lead UW-Oshkosh to the team title at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Championship Saturday (March 26) in Ithaca, N.Y.

UW-Oshkosh won the six-team national meet with a Division III-record score of 194.100. The Titans finished fourth at the 2019 NCGA Championship before the 2020 and 2021 meets were canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The national title was the 48th for UW-Oshkosh and the fifth for the school's gymnastics program. The Titans previously won national women's gymnastics titles at the 1980 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division III, 1986 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and 1989 and 2007 NCGA championships.

Defending champion State University of New York at Brockport finished second to UW-Oshkosh in this year's team standings with 192.600 points while UW-La Crosse placed third with 192.575, host Ithaca College fourth with 192.325, UW-Whitewater fifth with 191.975 and Springfield College (Mass.) sixth with 186.700.

UW-Oshkosh entered Saturday's meet ranked third in the Division III Rating Index compiled by RoadToNationals.com with a season average score of 189.953. State University of New York at Brockport was first in the ratings with a score of 191.017 while UW-Whitewater was second at 189.956, UW-La Crosse fourth at 189.116, Ithaca College fifth at 187.378 and Springfield College ninth at 184.953.

UW-Oshkosh's school-record score at this year's 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.

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 also finished 21st in the floor exercise and 43rd on the vault with scores of 9.70 and 9.10, respectively.

Sawyer collected her All-America decorations by finishing third in the floor exercise with a school-record tying score of 9.80 and fifth on the vault with a mark of 9.75. Sawyer additionally placed ninth on the uneven bars with a result of 9.70.

UW-Oshkosh had three other gymnasts pick up All-America accolades – Rahdea Jarvis, Olivia Keller and Emily Gilot.

Jarvis finished fifth on the uneven bars with a score of 9.75 while Keller placed sixth on the balance beam with a grade of 9.775 and Gilot eighth on the vault with a tally of 9.70. Jarvis also ranked 12th on the vault and 21st in the floor exercise with scores of 9.65 and 9.70, respectively, while Keller added a 25th-place result of 9.675 in the floor exercise and Gilot a ninth-place mark of 9.70 on the uneven bars. Gilot was an eighth-place finisher on the vault at the 2019 NCGA Championship.

UW-Oshkosh owned five other top 25 finishers on the balance beam as Kaylie Berens and Kaira Hammond placed 12th with scores of 9.75, Anna Zoromski 15th at 9.70, Delaney Cienkus 22nd at 9.60 and Liz Romano 23rd at 9.55.

UW-Oshkosh also received a ninth-place score of 9.75 in the floor exercise from Kennedy Springer, 12th-place results of 9.65 on the vault from Mia Lucero and Haley Minor and a 22nd-place outcome of 9.55 on the uneven bars from Berens.

Individuals finishing first through eighth (and ties) in each of the five event categories (all-around, balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars, vault) received All-America recognition.

UW-Oshkosh, which went unbeaten against all of its Division III competition this season, secured its 17th visit to the NCGA Championship by winning the West Region title on March 5 in Whitewater.