University of New Hampshire Athletics
Danielle Mulligan and the Wildcats had much to celebrate at the EAGL Championships. (Photo by Gil Talbot)
Insider Report: Next Up, NCAA Regionals in Georgia
4/2/2019 3:26:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics, UNH Insider
DURHAM, N.H. – They finished – in most dramatic fashion - one piece of business.
Now, it's on to the next business, new business for the University of New Hampshire gymnastics team.
The Wildcats grabbed their third East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championship and first since 2014 at the Whittemore Center on Saturday, March 23.
Thursday afternoon, UNH takes on North Carolina State in a first-round matchup at the NCAA Athens Regional, hosted by the University of Georgia.
"It's definitely very special to get back to the NCAAs," said senior Nicole O'Leary. "We work for it all year long. All of our hard work's paying off and we get to see that by going against these big schools at the regionals and we're right up there with them."
O'Leary and Gail Goodspeed, who is in her 40th season as coach and has her Wildcats in the NCAAs for the 36th time in the 38 years the organization has sponsored the sport, said the team is ready for Georgia.
"Last week (at EAGLs) we didn't even get our high score of the season, so we know we can do even better," O'Leary said. "There are certain things that we do that we need to improve on and I think we'll be ready to go."
Goodspeed agrees.
"The fun thing that I look at from the EAGL championship is we're still better than that," she said. "There's still room for improvement and there are still goals to catch. And that's talking with five seniors in the lineup and the trophy in your pocket. I feel like this group of seniors particularly is not ready to be done. It's not like they want to be done. They want to perform."
All season the team used the manta "unfinished business" as its battle cry, stemming from the fact the Wildcats had finished as the runnerup at the EAGL championships for four straight years going into this season.
The EAGL meet was tight all the way to the final routine in the final event, and in the end UNH took care of that business by edging George Washington University by a score of 195.950 to 195.825. North Carolina State was third in 195.275.
The title quest had plenty of anxious moments.
UNH was on the floor exercise for its final rotation and George Washington was on beam.
"Going to floor being behind by .05 I thought we were golden," Goodspeed said.
But George Washington was knocking off some nice performances on beam and the Wildcats slipped a bit in a couple of routines on floor and the meet stayed tight.
Junior Riley Freehling stepped up with a big routine.
"She did an amazing job," Goodspeed said. "And then Ava just finished it off."
Junior Ava Watkins delivered a score of 9.90 that ended up tied for first and the Wildcats were feeling good about their chances.
Still, the meet was ever-so-close and the gymnasts and their coaches looked up and watched the videoboard to make sure.
Finally, the scores were posted and the Wildcats were champions and the team and arena erupted in cheers.
The Wildcats, who had already qualified for the NCAAs, had their league title, too.
"For me, that's the ultimate goal of the season, to be in NCAAs," Goodspeed said. "We all know that. Their goal at the start of the year was the unfinished business thing to win EAGLs. That's just icing on the cake, even though it happens first. Now, we've got to build the cake. The icing is good. They're EAGL champs. Now it's doing well at regionals. We're not done. Now we're on to new business. The old business is taken care of and now it's new business."
The regionals have a new format this year.
UNH and North Carolina State will compete head-to-head and the winner will advance to a second-round quad meet against No. l seed Oklahoma, No. 6 California and Maryland on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Meet Notes
There will be two second-round quad meets on Friday. The other has No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa State.
The top two teams from the second round meets move in to a regional final on Saturday.
The top two teams from Saturday join the top teams from three other regionals in the NCAA Championships on April 19-20 in Forth Worth, Texas.
If UNH does not advance as a team to Friday night, O'Leary and fellow senior Danielle Mulligan, who matched an EAGL Championship record with a 9.950 mark on the uneven bars, will compete in separate Friday quad meet as individuals.
The Wildcats are preparing to take on North Carolina State for the third time this season on Thursday. UNH has won the first two meetings, but NC State has the better NCAA qualifying score overall and thus is seeded higher at regionals.
"The new format almost adds a little more motivation, by having to get from round one to round two," Goodspeed said. "We have to take it one meet at time. We need to zone in and look at Thursday. In past years at regionals we would have had a practice day. We have to look at it as all right, we have an opportunity to get on the equipment and to get a practice day in. And take that meet and move to Friday, having the advantage of having been on the equipment. I think that's a plus for us."
One meet, one day at a time.
"The premier thing here is take care of yourself after the meet," Goodspeed said. "Get that icing and get rest and recovery. The mindset is absolutely one day at a time. We do our job there and now we'll take care of the next day. It's not a mindset of, OK, we've got three days in row, here we go. It's a mindset of one day at a time."
WHAT'S AHEAD
OFFICIAL UNH GEAR:
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Now, it's on to the next business, new business for the University of New Hampshire gymnastics team.
The Wildcats grabbed their third East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championship and first since 2014 at the Whittemore Center on Saturday, March 23.
Thursday afternoon, UNH takes on North Carolina State in a first-round matchup at the NCAA Athens Regional, hosted by the University of Georgia.
"It's definitely very special to get back to the NCAAs," said senior Nicole O'Leary. "We work for it all year long. All of our hard work's paying off and we get to see that by going against these big schools at the regionals and we're right up there with them."
O'Leary and Gail Goodspeed, who is in her 40th season as coach and has her Wildcats in the NCAAs for the 36th time in the 38 years the organization has sponsored the sport, said the team is ready for Georgia.
"Last week (at EAGLs) we didn't even get our high score of the season, so we know we can do even better," O'Leary said. "There are certain things that we do that we need to improve on and I think we'll be ready to go."
Goodspeed agrees.
"The fun thing that I look at from the EAGL championship is we're still better than that," she said. "There's still room for improvement and there are still goals to catch. And that's talking with five seniors in the lineup and the trophy in your pocket. I feel like this group of seniors particularly is not ready to be done. It's not like they want to be done. They want to perform."
All season the team used the manta "unfinished business" as its battle cry, stemming from the fact the Wildcats had finished as the runnerup at the EAGL championships for four straight years going into this season.
The EAGL meet was tight all the way to the final routine in the final event, and in the end UNH took care of that business by edging George Washington University by a score of 195.950 to 195.825. North Carolina State was third in 195.275.
The title quest had plenty of anxious moments.
UNH was on the floor exercise for its final rotation and George Washington was on beam.
"Going to floor being behind by .05 I thought we were golden," Goodspeed said.
But George Washington was knocking off some nice performances on beam and the Wildcats slipped a bit in a couple of routines on floor and the meet stayed tight.
Junior Riley Freehling stepped up with a big routine.
"She did an amazing job," Goodspeed said. "And then Ava just finished it off."
Junior Ava Watkins delivered a score of 9.90 that ended up tied for first and the Wildcats were feeling good about their chances.
Still, the meet was ever-so-close and the gymnasts and their coaches looked up and watched the videoboard to make sure.
Finally, the scores were posted and the Wildcats were champions and the team and arena erupted in cheers.
The Wildcats, who had already qualified for the NCAAs, had their league title, too.
"For me, that's the ultimate goal of the season, to be in NCAAs," Goodspeed said. "We all know that. Their goal at the start of the year was the unfinished business thing to win EAGLs. That's just icing on the cake, even though it happens first. Now, we've got to build the cake. The icing is good. They're EAGL champs. Now it's doing well at regionals. We're not done. Now we're on to new business. The old business is taken care of and now it's new business."
The regionals have a new format this year.
UNH and North Carolina State will compete head-to-head and the winner will advance to a second-round quad meet against No. l seed Oklahoma, No. 6 California and Maryland on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Meet Notes
There will be two second-round quad meets on Friday. The other has No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa State.
The top two teams from the second round meets move in to a regional final on Saturday.
The top two teams from Saturday join the top teams from three other regionals in the NCAA Championships on April 19-20 in Forth Worth, Texas.
If UNH does not advance as a team to Friday night, O'Leary and fellow senior Danielle Mulligan, who matched an EAGL Championship record with a 9.950 mark on the uneven bars, will compete in separate Friday quad meet as individuals.
The Wildcats are preparing to take on North Carolina State for the third time this season on Thursday. UNH has won the first two meetings, but NC State has the better NCAA qualifying score overall and thus is seeded higher at regionals.
"The new format almost adds a little more motivation, by having to get from round one to round two," Goodspeed said. "We have to take it one meet at time. We need to zone in and look at Thursday. In past years at regionals we would have had a practice day. We have to look at it as all right, we have an opportunity to get on the equipment and to get a practice day in. And take that meet and move to Friday, having the advantage of having been on the equipment. I think that's a plus for us."
One meet, one day at a time.
"The premier thing here is take care of yourself after the meet," Goodspeed said. "Get that icing and get rest and recovery. The mindset is absolutely one day at a time. We do our job there and now we'll take care of the next day. It's not a mindset of, OK, we've got three days in row, here we go. It's a mindset of one day at a time."
WHAT'S AHEAD
- There are nine teams competing in each of four regionals around the country.
- The other regionals are in Ann Arbor, Mich. (hosted by the University of Michigan); Corvallis, Ore. (Oregon State); and Baton Rouge, La. (LSU).
- UNH will host an NCAA Regional at the Whittemore Center in 2021.
- Mulligan is competing in the all-around.
- Juniors Emma Winer and Riley Freehling and freshman Hailey Lui are expected to compete in three events each.
OFFICIAL UNH GEAR:
- Check out UNHShop.com for the latest in official UNH Wildcats' merchandise.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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V, BB, FX
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