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Written by head coach Cliff Gauthier
Freshmen Bragging Rights-This year's freshmen class will be tough to beat when it comes to stories about the launch of their collegiate experience. It started on move in day as smoke from a forest fire about 100 miles away in the Great Dismal Swamp greeted the campus. Within two weeks the freshmen experienced Virginia's biggest earthquake in memory (a 5.8 on the Richter scale felt from Toronto to South Carolina) followed shortly thereafter by a campus evacuation resulting from an impending bout with Hurricane Irene. In spite of this unsettling start, they managed to combine for just under a 3.5 grade point average during their first semester and then went on to carve out spots for themselves in our all-time record books during the second semester as J. J. Jindra moved into the number three position in the all-around and the number five position on rings, Jason Wang to 7th on pommel horse, Peter Ten Eyck to 9th on pommel horse, and Michael Deitz to 10th on the high bar.
Senior Leadership and a Second CHAMPS Trophy-The team made a clear cut decision to go with experience as the three seniors-Steve Deutsch, Dan Melzar, and Jonathan Prohov- were voted to serve as tri-captains. Subsequently, the team went on to finish the season ranked 14th in the nation and also to earn the prestigious CHAMPS trophy awarded by the W&M Student Athletic Advisory Committee to the team who excels the most in the primary areas of community service, academic excellence, and support of other W&M athletic teams. During the season we also had significant television coverage on WTKR channel 3, the regional CBS affiliate, as they covered our winter canned food drive that brought in 2716 pounds of food to FISH, a local non-denominational food bank, and followed that up with coverage of our State Meet and final home meet.
A Season of Progress and Travels-Daniel Potemski Tops the Team Point Standings-We were a very young team that showed constant improvement resulting in an increase of our team score by a substantial 24 points during the course of the season. Last season we had travel difficulties getting to the ECAC Championship in Chicago and as a result got a whole bunch of free round trip vouchers this year. We took advantage of this opportunity to schedule a dual meet at Arizona State in February that included a quick trip to the Grand Canyon which proved to be an awesome first time experience for almost everybody on the team.
Sophomore Daniel Potemski scored a remarkable 817.6 team points as seven of our top 10 scorers will be back next season. Here are the rankings for our top 10 team point scorers: 1. Daniel Potemski 817.6, 2. Junior Futa Ikeda 530.4, 3. Freshman J. J. Jindra 480.7, 4. Freshman Michael Deitz 364.5, 5. Junior Kris Yeager 275.15, 6. Senior Steve Deutsch 232.0, 7. Peter Ten Eyck 200.85, 8. Junior Sam Patterson 159.05, 9. Senior Dan Melzar 150.1, and 10. Junior Matt Burns 150.05. We would have had eight of the top ten returning except for the fact that junior Futa Ikeda will be graduating with a degree in neuroscience in just three years.
13 All-American Certificates and a Second Place at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships-Our three juniors put together outstanding performances at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championship and all earned USAG Collegiate All-American honors for the first time. Matt Burns started things off nailing his best floor exercise routines and ending up fifth in the finals. Kris Yeager worked through nagging shoulder problems to put together a parallel bars routine with minimal deduction and ended up sixth. Fellow junior Futa Ikeda placed fifth with an excellent all-around and then followed it up a day later with another fifth place finish on the parallel bars. Freshman J. J. Jindra won the silver medal in the all-around for his first All-American designation and tallied a second certificate on the high bar by placing fourth. Steve Deutsch upped his career total of All-American certificates to five as he checked in with a third designation on rings by finishing sixth and a second designation on pommel horse by tying for fourth with sophomore teammate Daniel Potemski. Daniel now has six All-American awards as he added four certificates this year (fourth in AA, FE, PH as well as a third on V) to go with his previous designations in the all-around and on pommel horse.
It was an interesting meet for the team as we seemed to be just a few inches from a fantastic meet or just a few inches the other way from a disastrous meet. All in all, we showed solid character under pressure and battled our way to a season high score of 331.8 claiming the second place trophy in the process.
Top Honors at the ECAC Championship-Graduating junior, Futa Ikeda achieved another impressive milestone in his gymnastics career as he was presented with the Most Improved Gymnast award at the ECAC Championships. Freshman J. J. Jindra is just beginning to write his section in the storied history of W&M gymnastics as he received the Rookie of the Year award at this year's ECAC Gymnastics Championship which dates back 86 years to 1926 when Dartmouth won the first team title.
After his grip broke in the State meet on his triple back dismount on the rings and the resulting severe strain of his biceps and rotator cuff, sophomore Landon Funiciello has been unable to compete on his three best events this season-rings where he was sixth in the nation last year, vaulting where he is number one in our all-time records, and parallel bars where he ranks second. However, he was cleared to work floor exercise on a modified basis and made the most of it by scoring his personal best and placing fourth in the ECACs. Four others joined Landon in earning All-ECAC honors: Daniel Potemski (AA, PH, V), J. J. Jindra (AA, PB), Peter Ten Eyck (PH), and Jason Wang (PH).
Nine Qualify to the NCAA Championships-Although we missed going to the NCAA Championships as a team (the top 12 qualify and we were ranked 14th), special congratulations go to nine of our gymnasts who qualified to compete in the Championship as individuals: J. J. Jindra and Daniel Potemski in the all-around, Landon Funiciello on floor exercise, Jason Wang and Peter Ten Eyck on pommel horse, Steve Deutsch on the rings, Futa Ikeda on parallel bars, and Kris Yeager and Sam Patterson on the high bar. Daniel had an excellent meet hitting 12 routines in a row and in the process advanced to the second day all-around/team finals where he placed 17th in the all-around.
Tribe Gymnastics Once Again in the Hunt for the National Academic Team Title-The College is quite proud of the sustained effort our gymnasts have shown in their classes through both semesters. This effort has been so good that we may have put ourselves in a position to challenge for our fifth national academic title in men's gymnastics. First semester the sophomore class was outrageous coming in with a combined 3.8 grade point average-Landon Funiciello (pre-med), Sam Patterson (econ and psych), Blake Erickson (international relations), and Daniel Potemski (econ and finance). The freshmen were also outstanding with just under a 3.5 combined-Peter Ten Eyck (undecided), J. J. Jindra (undecided), Jason Wang (pre-med), and Michael Deitz (psychology). In addition, first semester may have been the first time ever that every one of our gymnasts was above a 3.0 grade point! All totaled, the team combined for a grade point of 3.511. It is not unusual for our team to attain a higher grade point during the season than during first semester, so we are definitely in the running for the national academic title. With this year's class, we will definitely continue to have the most individually honored Academic All-American Scholar Athletes since the inception of the awards in 1991.
Yours in Sport,
Cliff
