Scoresheet
NEW HAVEN – Conn. - The West Chester University gymnastics team took home a second place finish at the 35th Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II Gymnastics Championships on Saturday in an event hosted by Southern Connecticut State University.
For the 10th-straight season, the University of Bridgeport claimed the conference title, after putting up a score of 195.1 on Saturday to give the Purple Knights their 21st ECAC championship overall. The Golden Rams logged a team score of 192.65 to finish second for the third year in a row, while host SCSU tallied a 191.9 to finish the event in third place.
West Chester's best finishes of the afternoon came in the uneven bars, as freshman
Melanie Wojewoda (Amelia, Ohio) and junior
Myranda Marshall (Lancaster, Pa.) both logged 9.775's on Saturday to leave the Moore Field House tied for second place in the 18-athlete field. Bridgeport's Kelli Tereshko took home the uneven bar title with an impressive score of 9.825, just ahead of teammate Kelsey Campbell and Wojewoda and Marshall.
After finishing second at last year's event, sophomore
Sarah Boyd (St. Petersburg, Fl.) carded a 9.775 on the balance beam to claim fourth, while junior
Cassie Hageman (Carlisle, Pa.) tied for sixth in the event, after putting up a 9.725.
Freshman
Jessica Meakim (Downingtown, Pa.) paced West Chester with a 9.825 to grab sixth place finish in the floor exercise and the newcomer tied with senior
Meghan Chan (Northvale, N.J.) for sixth in the vault after both tallied scores of 9.625 in the event.
At the conclusion of the championship, the duo of Meakim and Chen both took home individual conference accolades, as Meakim earned ECAC Rookie of the Year honors and Chan left Connecticut as the 2018 ECAC Scholar Athlete of the Year. Joining Meakim and Chan as award winners on Saturday was West Chester coach Stephanie Plaugher, who was tabbed the 2018 ECAC Assistant Coach of the Year, after helping guide the Golden Rams to 15 victories in 2017-18 and to one of the most successful seasons in program history.
The final chapter for this West Chester team is still to come, as the Golden Rams will have to wait and see if they qualify for the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships for the second time in two years. The top eight ranked teams qualify for this national event and WCU sat in seventh heading into Saturday's conference championship. Although multiple individuals from West Chester have already qualified for the championship, it is going to come down to the wire to see whether or not the Golden Rams will be heading Denton, Texas as a full squad.
Individual Award Winners
Athlete of the Year: Kelsey Campbell (Bridgeport)
Rookie of the Year:
Jessica Meakim (West Chester)
Co-Specialist of the Year: Kelli Tereshko (Bridgeport) | Alexandra Avendano (Bridgeport)
Scholar Athletes:
Meghan Chan (West Chester) | Kate Aberger
Coach of the Year: Jerry Nelson
Assistant Coach of the Year:
Stephanie Plaugher (West Chester)
