Gymnastics | 1/15/2016 2:31:00 PM
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca College gymnastics team makes its season debut Saturday in a clash at Division II foe Southern Connecticut.
Ithaca, which features three seniors plus one graduate student, returns plenty of talent from last year's squad that went 3-11 overall.
Led by co-captains
Valerie Cohen (graduate student) and senior
Lara Haberle, head coach
Rick Suddaby's squad is excited to build off of the momentum established during the last six meets of the 2015 season.
During that span, Ithaca averaged 187.725 points per match in winning twice and claiming a fifth-place finish at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) East Region championships.
In every competition during that late-season run, Ithaca scored at least 187 cumulative points, which served in stark contrast to the Bombers' first nine meets when Ithaca never scored more than 184.950 points.
With a solid mix of returners and a talented crop of incoming freshmen and newcomers, Suddaby feels this year's squad has the necessary blend of talent and experience to once again qualify for nationals by finishing in the top three in the East Region.
"Last year was a big comeback year for us and we did some amazing things. It's amazing how good the league was, and while we didn't qualify for nationals, we went up 20 points from our team score at regionals the year before," said Suddaby, Ithaca's Hall of Fame coach who is entering his 31
st season leading the Bombers.
"It was a very successful experience last year and now with the experience we have coming back and with the talented freshmen, we're confident we can continue to improve. We want to build off of last year's successes and start this year where we finished last year: scoring in the 190s."
To view the entire schedule, click
here. Ithaca makes its home debut Wednesday when Brockport comes to campus for a 4 p.m. meet.
Suddaby was named the NCGA East Region Coach of the Year, after leading Ithaca to an improvement of more than seven points in its team score over the course of the season.
One of the strengths for the Bombers in 2015-16 should be the balance beam, with Suddaby proudly pointing out that his team boasts 15 student-athletes who can score a 9.5 or better on the challenging balance beam event.
Haberle, who competes in the beam and also trains on vault, is expected to be one of the scoring leaders for Ithaca.
Haberle, entering her fourth year on the team, posted a season-best score of 9.675 in the event at Regionals as Ithaca closed the year setting a school-record team score on the balance beam in three straight meets.
"I have such high expectations for this season. This is hands-down the best team I've ever trained with in my entire life, both talent-wise and in togetherness," Haberle said.
"Our confidence level is really high this year. We know how good we are and how great we're going to do. Everyone has been training hard and hitting their skills during the preseason and now we're really consistent in our practices. We all know how to perform and what we need to do to succeed."
Suddaby feels confident his squad, which features nine freshmen, nine sophomores, one junior, three seniors, and one graduate student, will build off of last season's successes.
During a late-season loss at Cortland, Ithaca threatened the school record for team score, compiling 190.125 points during a narrow loss to the Red Dragons. Ithaca set or tied three team records and posted its highest team score since 2004 as
Hannah Donnelly, now a sophomore, matched the Ithaca individual record on balance beam with a 9.8.
Ithaca set a team record on vault with a score of 47.700 on that rotation as all six members of the lineup scored 9.4 or higher for the Bombers. Cohen tied for second with a 9.625, a career-best score, while sophomore
Kaylee Pacunas tied for fifth with a career-high total of 9.575.
At the same Cortland meet, Donnelly scored a 9.8 on the beam, tying the Ithaca school record, while classmate
Kendra Balcerak came in fourth with a personal-best 9.75 score.
Among his student-athletes, Suddaby highlighted Cohen as a solid contributor on the vault and floor who has All-American potential, as well as senior
Megan Harrington, Ithaca's All-American in the all-around who should contribute greatly in all of her events.
"Our goal is to score 9.7s on every event, and to have something special from each student-athlete in each event. If we can perform consistently we can meet that goal," said Suddaby, who was enshrined into Ithaca's Athletics Hall of Fame in September.
"We've made a lot of progress from the start of the preseason to now and our student-athletes have really improved their ability to score. We might be a little inconsistent early on because we've learned so many new things, but once we get it down we will be hard to beat."
One area where both Suddaby and Haberle expect great improvements this year is the floor routine, which Suddaby admits was a struggle last year. Led by freshmen
Carolyn Nichols and
Haley Lyons, Suddaby sees a bright future for the Bombers in the floor routine.
Lyons is expected to contribute in three events for Ithaca, while fellow freshman
Nina Bustamante-Nadeau has been excelling on the beam and in the all-around for the Bombers.
"Confidence is a big deal, especially with such a young team. They don't really know how good they are but I know how good we can be. We can build off of last year's successes. We've seen the talent in the league and we know how good we need to be to be in the running for a national title," added Haberle.Â
