COLLEGEVILLE – The Ursinus Gymnastics team will begin its 2022 season on Saturday, January 22nd as they will host a Quad Meet with Ithaca, Cortland, and Springfield at 1 p.m.
The Bears are returning to competition after not having a 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They last competed on March 8th, 2020 against Temple, 685 days before this season's opener. Ursinus was originally slated to open against Springfield last Sunday before COVID related issues on the Pride's side forced a cancellation and they now join the Bears meet alongside the Bombers plus Red Dragons.
"Our student-athletes are very excited to compete again," said head coach Kim Valenti. "Our first-years & sophomores are ready for their first collegiate meet. For our juniors & seniors, they have been looking forward to this comeback season for a long time. We are all grateful to be healthy & back out there."
Ursinus had its first chance to compete in the Red and Gold Intrasquad meet back on December 10th. The team split into two squads as they competed and were scored in all four events.
"We had an awesome intrasquad last month." Valenti said. "The energy in our facility was incredible and the ability to hold our annual Red & Gold in front of families and fans again was really special. We had stand out performances from senior Taylor Cusick on vault (9.5), first-year Maddie Zimmerman on beam (9.525) & senior Kaylin Knapsack on floor (9.525)."
Knapsack is among some of the key returnees for the Bears in 2022 after earning NCGA All-American honors in the floor exercise. She finished third in the region and fourth in Division III on the floor exercise in 2020. Knapsack was consistently performing at a high level, posting at least a 9.550 on every routine with a high of 9.775 in a tri-meet at Ithaca.
Junior Alex Panetta was the second of three Bears to earn NCGA All-American honors during her first season in 2020. She spearheaded the Bears on the bars as she earned at least a 9.500 on the difficult event. Panetta's 9.6438 SAS was fourth in the East Region and sixth in the country.
Ursinus will also welcome eleven total newcomers in 2022 as both the eight first-years and three sophomores will get their first chances to compete at the collegiate level. 11 of the 19 total on roster have yet to see the collegiate competition floor.
"Sophomores Ashley Cromer & Carly Troilo have amazing potential to do some great things on multiple events this year," Valenti said. "Junior Alyssa DeLorme will debut a new release on bars and is showing strong potential to compete All-Around. There are also several other gymnasts who have the ability to put up strong scores and be difference makers for us this season."
The Bears scored over 185 six times in the 2020 season with a high mark of 188.950 coming against Springfield and Ithaca. Their schedule features meets against traditional NCGA East Region powers such as Springfield, Ithaca, and Cortland along with competition against Division I schools. The Bears will compete in quad meets at Rutgers and Temple in addition to a dual meet against Towson. Ursinus also will face West Chester on two separate occasions with one coming at Helfferich Hall in late February.
"We are looking to build off the momentum from our 2020 season and just enjoy competing again,
Valenti said. "Our upperclassmen have solidified the core of our program and I'm so excited to see what our first years and sophomores can do to add to that."