Eight Athletes Earn All-America Honors at NCGA Championships

For Immediate Release: Saturday, March 21, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. – Eight University of Wisconsin-La Crosse gymnasts earned All-America honors Saturday afternoon at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Individual Championships in Hutton Arena on the campus of Hamline University.

The Eagles' Gabi Hooper placed second (9.725) on the vault while teammate Jackie LaFleur was third (9.550). Hooper, who had captured the national vault title in 2007 and 2008, also finished tied for fourth on the floor exercise (9.725) Saturday. Hooper now has six career All-America accolades.

LaFleur also earned All-America honors on the floor exercise Saturday with an eighth-place finish (9.525). She was 14th on the uneven parallel bars (8.750). She finishes her career with five All-America awards after placing fifth in the all-around (37.150) Friday night.

UW-L's Courtney Gonzales tied for fourth on the floor exercise (9.725) with Hooper for her first career All-America recognition.

Schaelyn McFadden tied for fourth on the uneven parallel bars (9.600) Saturday to earn her first career All-America honor. The Eagles' Mackenzie Howard placed ninth on the uneven parallel bars (9.350) while Kelsey Matula tied for 12th (8.800) for All-America honors. Matula also tied for 12th on the floor exercise (9.225). Howard ends her career with four All-America honors while Matula has three awards after finishing eighth in the all-around (37.050) Friday.

On the balance beam, the Eagles' Rachel Budelier and Erin Sommer each earned All-America awards. Budelier picked up her first career honor with a ninth-place finish (9.325) while Sommer was 12th (9.050). Sommer also tied for 12th on the floor exercise (9.225) and now has five career All-America honors.

The top-six finishers (including ties) in each event Saturday earn NCGA First Team All-America honors while the seventh through 12th-place finishers earn NCGA Second Team All-America recognition.

UW-L captured its 13th NCGA Championship Friday night in Hutton Arena. The Eagles finished with a team score of 186.875 while SUNY-Brockport placed second with a score of 184.950 and UW-Whitewater was third at 184.850. Winona State University (Minn.) placed fourth (184.600) followed by Ithaca College (N.Y.) fifth (183.600), SUNY-Cortland sixth (182.750) and Hamline University (Minn.) seventh (179.200).

It is UW-L's eighth national title in the last nine years and 10th in the last 13 seasons. The Eagles' 13 overall national crowns are the most in NCGA history.

Head coach Barb Gibson has led UW-L to all 13 of its national titles in her 24 seasons. She has also guided the Eagles to 17 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships.

For complete results of Saturday's competition, click here.