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PIONEERS AIMING FOR TITLE NUMBER NINE IN SHREVEPORT
 DENTON, Texas (April 14) – The Texas Woman’s University gymnastics team will travel to Shreveport, Louisiana this week to take part in the 2008 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships. The Pioneers, who have dominated this event with eight team crowns since 1993, are participating in the eight-team competition April 17-19 at The Gold Dome on the campus of Centenary College.
TWU will enter the Championships as one of the prohibitive favorites to win. The Pioneers are the top seed in the competition, based on their regional qualifying score (RQS) of 193.370. Towson University, the defending USAG National Champion, is the second seed with a RQS of 193.300. Centenary College, the host team, is seeded third (192.205), while Cornell University (191.230) is seeded fourth.
William and Mary (190.600), Air Force (190.280), Seattle Pacific (189.400) and Temple University (189.225) round out the list of schools vying for the team title.
The three-day competition will begin with two team semifinal sessions on Thursday, April 17. Towson, Cornell, Air Force, and Temple will take part in the 2 p.m. session. TWU will compete (beginning on beam) in the 7 p.m. session along with Centenary, William & Mary, and Seattle Pacific. The top two teams from each semifinal session will advance to the team finals on Friday, April 18, at 7 p.m.
The top five individuals (including ties) from each event in both of Thursday’s semifinal sessions will also qualify for the individual event finals scheduled for Saturday, April 19, at 1:30 p.m. Several TWU gymnasts have excellent shots to qualify for the individual event finals. Senior Nicole Poling is ranked fourth and freshman Mollie Blessing is tied for sixth in the most recent USAG vault rankings. Senior Courtney Arno-Templet (1st) and freshman Amanda Walker (5th) are amongst the USAG’s best on bars. Arno-Templet (1st) and freshman Kristie Costa find themselves in the top five on beam while junior Amie Boles (T-2nd) and Blessing (T-8th) are in the top ten on floor exercise. Arno-Templet (bars) and Rachel Zimmerman (beam) won individual event national titles at last year’s championships.
TWU head coach Frank Kudlac is confident his team can bring another national title back to Denton.
“I’ve said all season long that this is the most talented team I’ve had in my thirty years of coaching. Therefore, I feel good about our chances win another national championship. If we hit like we are capable of, we definitely can come out on top,” he said.
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