The defending national champion University of Wisconsin Oshkosh gymnastics team will compete in the 38th National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championship on Saturday March 25.
The meet will be held in Winona State University’s McGown Gymnasium, starting at 2 p.m. Gymnasts will be competing for the team and five individual (all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise) national titles.
Tickets are available online and will be available in-person starting at 1 p.m. Tickets for adults are $10, senior citizens and children are $5 and children under five get in free.
The Titans have competed in 17 previous NCGA Championships, winning the title in 1989, 2007 and 2022, finishing second in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 2001 and finishing third in 1992 and 2006. Oshkosh previously won women’s gymnastics titles at the 1980 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division III and the 1986 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships before joining the NCGA in 1989.
They reached this year’s meet by winning the WIAC Championship/NCGA West Regional for the third season in a row, with a WIAC Championship record breaking team score of 193.100 points, on March 11 at the Kolf Sports Center. Joining Oshkosh in Winona from the West Region will be UW-La Crosse, which took second place with 191.850 points and UW-Stout, which scored 190.475 points.
Junior Emily Buffington leads all NCGA gymnasts in the all-around, owning a season average score of 38.2688 points with a program record 38.800 points at the WIAC Championship. Reanna McGibboney finished the season in third on the vault with a 9.7813 season average score. Buffington and sophomore Mia Lucero sit at seventh and eighth with average scores of 9.7438 and 9.7375, respectively. On the balance beam, sophomore Delaney Cienkus is ranked fourth, averaging 9.7438 points on the season. She is also ranked on the floor exercise with an average of 9.7500.
The defending national champion Titans claimed the first NCGA championship after the 2020 and 2021 championships were canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Oshkosh claimed the crown with a program and NCGA Championship record score of 194.100 at Ithaca College on March 26, 2022.
Oshkosh will compete on the floor exercise in Rotation Two, the vault on Rotation Three, uneven bars on Rotation Five and balance beam on Rotation Six, while having byes during Rotation One and Four.
The top three teams at Saturday’s championship receive a trophy while individuals finishing first through sixth (and ties) in the balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars and vault collect All-America medals. The top eight finishers in the all-around competition also earn an All-America decoration.
Individually, Oshkosh boasts 18 national titles (13 gymnasts). Oshkosh student-athletes have combined to earn 108 All-America awards throughout the history of the NCGA Championship.
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