One of our favorite sports to blog about both here and on "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times" is women's collegiate gymnastics. And, since we are based in the Tarheel State, we frequently cover both the gymnastic squdas for the University of North Carolina Tarheels' team as well as the North Carolina State Wolfpacks.
The two teams are part of the EAGL Gymnastics Conference which is mostly made up of Big East and ACC schools (the Univeristy of Maryland is the only other ACC school with a women's gymnastics team). Other schools in the EAGL Conference include West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University.
This year the University of New Hampshire, also an EAGL member, hosted the conference meet in Durham, NH, which is a bit ironic since Durham, NC, the town where Duke University is located, is the place where most Tarheels sports teams play out their most-aniticipated matchups of the year. But, since Duke has not had a women's gymnastics team in several decades, the 'Heels simply have to look forward to their meets with NC State.
The Tarheels (ranked 36th nationally) not only won this year's EAGL meet, but at a banquet held prior to the gymnastics event, UNC's senior gymnast Christine Nguyen of Plano, Tex., was named EAGL Gymnast of the Year for a third consecutive year.
Her fellow senior teammate Kara Wright was also honored as EAGL SCholar-Athlete of the Year. To top it off, Wright won the all-around competition at the conference championships as well.
Senior Tina Jacobs was named team MVP for the Tarheels.
Nguyen's 9.767 average on the balance beam was the highest in the EAGL this year. She also averaged a 39.028 in all-arounds throughout the season. Nguyen was the only gymnast in the EAGL to perform such a feat. The Tarheel gymnast also earned all-EAGL honors for her performances on the uneven bars, the balance beam and the floor exercise.
Wright was first-team EAGL on vault with a 9.803 average throught the year.
Coach Derek Galvin said he was extremely happy for both Nguyen and Wright, according to the team's official web site.
The Tarheels travel to The University of Missouri this weekend for a regional meet, which surprised Galvin since that is quite a distance from Chapel Hill, NC.
According to the University of Missouri's gymnastics web site, the 15th ranked Tigers will also host five-time defending champion Georgia (currently ranked fifth), Oregon State (ranked eighth), Minnesota (ranked 25th) and Iowa (ranked 30th).
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