Men’s Gymnastics Individual Championships

Yesterday, William and Mary hosted the ECAC Conference championships for gymnastics, featuring 6 highly respected teams squaring off for a bid to nationals. William and Mary placed 3rd as a team, with a score of 337.65. Our team was ranked #14 in the nation going into Friday, so the 3rd-place finish is only more evidence for the amazing strength of the competition! Senior team captain Derek Gygax led the team, finishing as the #2 gymnast overall at the event, a fantastic performance.

Based on the results from yesterday’s events, a number of William and Mary’s individual gymnasts qualified for the All-East finals, held today at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe performed very well here at home with the crowd on their side. In the floor exercises, Josh Fried made All-East honors with his #4 finish. On the pommel horse, Gygax took silver and Andy Hunter took bronze. Hunter hit the medal stand again in the ring finals, taking second place for medal #2! Finally, freshman Vince Smurro rounded out the Tribe’s medal count with his second-place billing on the parallel bars. In all, that is 5 All-East honors for the Tribe, a very impressive showing for our team!

For those of you who were able to make it out Friday or Saturday, you were treated to a few hours of exciting action. I had never before been to a gymnastics before, and in my first experience with seeing these events up close, I was floored by the strength and agility each of these competitors displayed on every event! One thing is for sure, we certainly have lots of reason to be proud of our gymnasts!

The next round of competition will be the National Finals in West Point, NY, on April 15. If you see any of our qualifying gymnasts (who are soon to be announced), make sure and show them how much you appreciate their performance and wish them good luck as they compete on the biggest stage!