Mikaela Gerber has committed to UCLA, according to a site submission. The Canadian National Team member trains at Oakville. Although she missed Nationals, she was a key member of the 2011 World's Team for Canada. She was 2nd AA as a junior at the Canadian Championships. Most recently, at the 2011 Pan Am Games, she won the silver medal on the FX.
Link: FX at World's
Silvia Colussi-Pelaez has committed to Florida for the 2013-2014 season. Colussi-Pelaez recently competed for Spain at the 2011 World Championships, although she trains in Canada at Oakville and has competed in the elite ranks in that country. In fact, this past year she placed 12th AA at the Canadian Championships.
Jaclyn Shelton, a Canadian from the Calgary Gym Centre, has committed to OU, according to CTV Calgary. She will apparently start this season. She has spent the last two years recovering from a hip injury, one that required a hip replacement last January. Before her injury, she placed 2nd AA, 2nd on BB and 4th(t) on UB in the 16+ National Open division of the Canadian Championships.
Link: Article and Video
Morgan Reynolds, L10 at Georgia Elite Gymnastics, has accepted a scholarship offer from Georgia. Last season she finished 1st AA at her state meet and 2nd AA at regionals. She qualified to nationals, but did not compete.
Alaska-Anchorage the signing of M'rcy Matsunami to a Letter of Intent, one of their highest profile signings ever. The Premier-trained athlete from Nebraska finished 12th AA and 5th on UB at the 2011 Level 10 JO Nationals. She also finished 17th AA and 5th on UB at the 2010 JO Nationals.
Link: UAA Release and UB Video
All through the off season, the teams have been training and preparing for their shot at a trip to Georgia for the NCAA Nationals. Here's a quick look at the teams, as we head into the final preperations before the start of the season.
Last season Bama entered the campaign needing to replace 10 routines from some key veteran champion athletes. But, bouyed by one of the top recruiting classes in the country, Bama finished the season on top, winning yet another National Championship. Could they repeat? They certainly have the firepower. They lose just four routines from last year (from star Kayla Hoffman) but have a strong incoming class that features three elites, including one former World Champion Kayla Williams.
However, a host of old and new challengers for the title are back and ready to take on the Tide. Last year's runnerup UCLA is back and potentially stronger, with the return of star Vanessa Zamarripa and a standout frosh class that includes National Team members Mattie Larson and Cassie Whitcomb. NCAA BB champ Samantha Peszek and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs lead a strong and deep veteran core.
Only a select few teams have ever won a National Title: Bama, UCLA, UGA and Utah. Could another team join that club? Florida boasts another strong class of frosh, and will use the added strength while seeking to bolster their consistency. Beam was a problem area last year and they'll look to build a strong lineup on the event. OU's well-coached crew maximizes their potential on each event. The experienced core is looking strong, led by Megan Ferguson, Natasha Kelley and Kayla Nowak, but they may need to boost their dynamics on VT and FX to maximize their chances. This could come from their frosh, especially Erica Brewer and elite Rebecca Clark.
Utah has a large incoming class of L10s and former elites, let by potential standout Georgia Dabritz. The Utes will also get back the services of Kyndal Robarts. These additions should give an "end of the lineup" boost and added difficulty on VT and FX, while providing for a very deep lineup. A number of other teams will be making a run for the Super Six this season, but first, all the teams will have to try to earn one of 12 spots at Nationals.
Overall, the frosh have a huge potential to boost various teams into National meet contention. We'll see teams that finished outside the Top 18 last season being now able to push the returning teams for a spot at Nationals. In all likelihood, at the end of the season we may have at least 20 programs in contention for the 12 spots at the National meet. We'll have our ranking of incoming classes published later this month. The final ranking will be a tough decision, with many excellent and impactful recruiting classse in the mix. A full list of the newcomers is posted here. .
This season is unusual in the number of high level US and foreign elites entering school this season. This bumper crop of talent is usually seen in a post-Olympic year. Other elite standouts (on other squads) include National Team members Ivana Hong and Samantha Shapiro at Stanford, Chelsea Davis at UGA and Jessie DeZiel at Nebraska. The class also includes former VISA Championships senior international elite qualifiers Rheagan Courville at LSU, Annette Miele at Michigan, Jackie McCartin at Washington, and Morgan Steigerwalt at ASU. Foreign elites (like Emma Willis at Iowa), former junior international elites (like Randi Lau at LSU) and top L10s (like '11 Sr D co-champ Allison Flores at Arizona) should also make a big impact. Add to this rising talents in the L10 ranks and improvements among the returning veterans and most teams will feature improved squads this season.
Last season, we saw a number of nail-biting finishes at Regionals. Traditional powers like Florida and Utah saw strong challenges in their Regions, and the Tuscaloosa Regional saw just 0.65 separate 2nd from last. The increasing parity is partially due to a rising pool of talent, a higher level of coaching talent, and a relatively static NCAA code (by which routines are evaluated). This combination creates the potential that at least one of the preseason Top 12, and possibly a traditional top qualifier, will once again not be qualifying to Nationals. Last season, Stanford went from Super Six to the sidelines, and in prior seasons, both UGA and UCLA missed the National meet.
The tables below are as complete as we know at this point in the season. (Click the links to be taken to the full charts). The tables will be updated as the season gets closer and new information becomes available.
UNH announced the signing of Kelsey Aucoin, Lauren Brodie and Elissa Solomon. All three commits were covered in prior news items.
Link: UNH Release
Kent State has announced the signing of Jaymi Baxter, Nicolle Eastman, and Anna Genrich. The commits of all three were highlighted in past news items.
Link: KSU Release
The Gopher men signed Dan DiBenedetto and Paul Montague, Jr. to letters of intent, as expected from our prior news items.
Link: Gopher Release
Illinois has announced the signing of three men to letters of intent: Logan Bradley, Max Mayr and Joey Peters.
Bradley was recruited for his PH skills. He trains and Bartlett and finished 3rd on PH at the 2011 JO Nationals. Link: YouTube.com Channel
Max Mayr is a standout who trains at Universal. He is the Junior National champion on Rings and PB, and placed 5th AA at the 2011 VISA Championships. Link: FX at VISAs (And here's proof his coach is as enthusiastic for all of his athletes)
Peters, of the Parkettes, placed 26th AA at the 2011 VISA Championships, competing in the senior division. He also placed 12th AA at the 2011 JO Nationals.
Link: Illini Release
UC Davis has announced five signees for the 2012-13 season. The commitments of Katy Nogaki, Steph Stamates, and Jamie Yamashita were covered in prior posts. Joining them are:
Taylor Baron, L10 at Liberty Gymnastics in California, finished her 2011 season at the NorCal meet where she placed 13th AA, and
Dani Judal, L10 at Byers in California, placed 4th AA at the 2011 NorCal and finished the season with a 12th place AA finish at JOs.
OU has signed Kanji Oyama for 2012-2013, according to a school release. Training at SCATS in Southern California, Oyama placed 11th AA at the 2011 VISA Championships and 16th AA in 2010.
Link: OU Release and YouTube.com Video
Ohio State (M) announced the signing of Alex Johnson and Jake Martin to letters of intent. Johnson trains at Ohio State already, so perhaps it is no surprise that this 9th place finished at 2011 VISA Championships is going to be a Buckeye. He also placed 10th at the 2010 VISA Championships. Link: Johnson's Web Site
Martin trains at Orlando Metro. He placed 4th AA and 3rd on R, VT and HB at the 2011 VISA Championships. He was also the runnerup at JO Nationals in 2011. He also placed 3rd AA at the 2009 and 2010 VISA Championships. Link: YouTube.com Video
Link: Ohio State Release
EMU has announced the signing of Khadijah Hudson and Kim Ebeyer, as expected, during the early signing period. The commits of both athletes were covered in prior news items.
Link: EMU Release
Maryland has signed Kathy Tang and Haley Jones, as expected. "Kathy and Haley exemplify everything we look for in a Terp student-athlete -- incredible gymnastics ability and outstanding academics" said Coach Brett Nelligan, in a release.
Link: UMD Release
Arizona State announced the signing of Alexandra Cope, Kristine Levin, Stephanie Miceli and Risa Perez, as expected. In a release, Head Coach Spini proclaimed, “With the recruiting class we brought in last year, this year, and the kids we’re currently looking at, I think we’re going to be back in the top-10 consistently, if not shooting for spots in the Super Six”.
Link: ASU Release