Updated: Jan. 19, 2015 at 1:11 a.m.
This post was written by Hatchet reporter Peter Hoegler.
For the third straight year, the women’s gymnastics team took home the Lindsey Ferris Invitational trophy.
But this time, instead of strong performances coming from upperclassmen, it was freshmen Jillian Winstanley and Cami Drouin-Allaire who spearheaded the Colonials’ victory in the Smith Center.
GW, now ranked 19th in the country, finished with a score of 195.025, which was good enough for first place against East Atlantic Gymnastics League rivals North Carolina and Pittsburgh, along with Cornell and Temple.
Winstanley won the all-around title with a score of 39.275, which included a first-place finish on the balance beam. She also finished first in last week’s Beauty and the Beast Meet with a score of 39.00.
“It was my first home meet, so I was just taking it one event at a time,” Winstanley said.
Drouin-Allaire placed second in the overall results with her best event coming at vault (9.85). Sophomore Chelsea Raineri, reigning EAGL Rookie of the Year, took first in that event, tying North Carolina’s Sarah Peterson with a score of 9.90. Raineri also finished first on floor exercise with a score of 9.85.
On uneven parallel bars, sophomore Alex DeMoura, who finished second in all-around scoring in last week’s event, took first place (9.825). GW took first and second on balance beam, with freshman Sara Mermelstein and Winstanley both getting a score of 9.85.
“Because the team is so young and there are so many freshmen, inexperience can get to us. But we are not letting it affect us,” Winstanley said.
North Carolina was GW’s best competition Sunday, finishing with a score of 194.55. But the Colonials were able to pull away on the final event – floor exercise – by placing five gymnasts in the top six.
The event was started in memory of former GW gymnast Lindsey Ferris, Class of 2001, who died in 2006. She was a special agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and a week before her death, though without her knowledge, she was selected as the junior civilian special agent of the year for 2005.
GW will head to West Virginia next Sunday to take on WVU and Iowa State.
This post was updated to reflect the following correction:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported the name of GW’s league. It is the East Atlantic Gymnastics League, not the Atlantic Gymnastics League. We regret this error.
