The 2-17 Capsule Previews for the Top 25 Women's Teams, as determined by the Preseason Coaches' Poll, are now available. In each case, we have summarized the rosters and list of newcomers, and quickly summarized their prospects and challenges. We're unveiling the first 12 today, and will follow up with teams ranked #13 to #25 shortly.
Oklahoma tops the Women's Preseason Coaches' Poll, as voted by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches, Women (NACGC/W). They earned 47 first place votes to #2 LSU with 11. #3 Bama has five first place votes, edging#4 UCLA who also has five. Florida is fifth (2 first place votes) and Utah sixth (two first place votes).
Oklahoma tops the Men's College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Preseason Coaches' Poll, nabbing 17 first place votes. Stanford was 2nd with 1 vote and Ohio State third (with one first place vote).
Arizona has signed Payton Bellows, Sydney Freidin and Adra Parks for 2017-2018. The commits of all three were covered in prior news items.
Link: Arizona Release
GWU has hired former ASU assistant and interim Head Coach Ralph Russo as an assistant.
Link: Release
SEMO has hired Brittney Emmons and Chris Licarneli as assistants. Emmons, a former Ball State standout, had been a volunteer assistant at Utah State. Licarneli comes to SEMO from Temple, where he was a manager of the Basketball team and Director of Operations for the Gymnastics Team.
Link: Release
Former UCLA standout Kristina Comforte has joined the Illinois staff as an Assistant Coach. She has coached at TAG and also gained coaching experience as an undergraduate assistant coach at UCLA.
On September 11th, 2001, newly hired UCSB Head Coach Mari-Rae Sopper, a former standout at Iowa State, lost her life during the events of that fateful day. We pause to remember her spirit and dedication to the sport, and her inspiring effort to pursue her dream.
Our original tribute page: Link
Wikipedia Memorial: Link
Dallas Becarra has assumed his duties as Assistant Coach at EMU. He bring experience from various gymnastics clubs in Texas, Missouri and California.
Randy Solorio has shed the "interim" from his title and has been named Head Coach at Sacramento State. He had been acting as interim Head Coach for the last year.
Link: Sac St Release
The program at the University of Alaska-Anchorage is seeking your support. Due to a state budget crisis, the entire athletic department is facing a review and the gymnastics program will either be eliminated or scaled back to Division II. Currently a Division I program, the school recently invested in a new training facility. Please read the letter from Head Coach Paul Stoklos:
Iowa State has announced Nilson Medeiros as the new Assistant Coach. He coached at Denver and later coached former DU gymnast Jessica Lopez in her return to elite gymnastics representing Venezuela. His coaching experience spans decades and includes club gymnastics, NCAA gymnastics and international gymnastics.
Iowa has announced its hiring of Vince Smurro as an Assistant Coach. He joins Iowa's staff after two years at CMU. He also has prior club coaching experience from Devlin's Gymnastics.
CMU hasn't posted an announcement yet, but Cameron Linford has been added to the coaching roster. Cameron has been the Director of Operations at Utah since 2007 and he has held various staff positions at Utah over the past 17 years. He has also gathered coaching experience at several Utah gymnastics clubs.