Tribe Senior Gymnast Finalist for Sport’s Highest Award

Northrup Fourth Tribe Athlete Named as Nissen Finalist

03/16/04 3:24PM

Williamsburg, VA - The College Gymnastics Association announced that Tribe senior all-arounder Jamie Northrup (Newton, MA) was among the eight finalists chosen for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, given annually to the NCAA’s outstanding senior male gymnast.

Northrup follows in the footsteps of former Tribe gymnastic greats David Williams (1992), Sebronzik Wright (1995) and Scott McCall (1997) as finalists for the award.

Through 15 meets, Northrup holds the Tribe’s best all-around score (53.50) and top rings performance on the season (9.50). Over the course of the past two seasons, he has been a major factor in helping the Tribe reach the NCAA Championships. Northrup was the team’s second-highest points scorer on the 2002 squad that was the first Tribe team to make it to the finals in the history of the program. Last season, he led the squad to the NCAA’s once again as the team’s top points producer. Currently, Northrup is third on this season’s team in points scored, with 266.925.

The Nissen-Emery Award is named after pioneering gymnast George Nissen. Nissen, the inventor of the trampoline, was a three-time National Tumbling Champion (1935-37) as a gymnast at the University of Iowa who went onto found Nissen Corporation. Nissen Corp is the world’s larges supplier of gymnastics equipment, and Universal Gym Equipment.

The Tribe, which is currently ranked 13th-nationally, is traveling to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, March 20 and 21st) at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The meet is crucial to the Tribe’s chance of making a third-straight appearance at the NCAAs. The meet will feature head-to-head competition with UIC and Army, both of whom are currently inside the nation’s top 12, which is the number of squad’s invited to compete at the NCAAs. Most likely, the Tribe will have to record a team victory this weekend and gain the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA field.