What a difference a year makes.
Sporting a roster of 11 participants in only its third year of participation at the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs National Championships, the
Grand Canyon University Club Gymnastics team saw six members reach Saturday's finals performances, had three members finish in the top 10 of their respective levels, and celebrated Lopes' sophomore (and student leader)
Adia Friesen, who became the all-around national champion in Level 9 (the tournament's highest level) while also winning the title in the beam. Friesen's overall score of 37.35 bested the nearest pursuer by more than a full tenth of a point at the three-day event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Friesen's fellow Level 9 teammate, freshman
Bella Scott, used strong performances in both the vault and the floor exercise to place 10
th in the all-around with a finishing score of 36.55. In the Platinum Category, Lopes' fellow freshman
Nahlea Haun took full advantage of her first national tournament, placing 8
th in that category with an overall 37.65 score, while
Audrey Love finished in the top 15 all-around at the same level. They were joined by sophomore
Khylie Young-Garayt and freshman
Destiny Ramirez among a total of nearly 500 female participants in Saturday's finals.
For Friesen, it was simply using what she learned by her first nationals foray as a Lopes' freshman a year ago
when she placed 4th overall at the event (in Albuquerque, New Mexico). She also found extra motivation from a fall during the bars portion on Thursday, and an hour later, completely dazzled the crowd with a rousing floor performance that put her 1
st in that category after Day 1. Friesen's momentum carried over 48 hours later when the native of Littleton, Colorado, posted a stellar 9.65 on Saturday's vault portion, and bounced back with a 9.1 mark on the bars and finished 17
th in the floor exercise to win the overall competition by .125 over James Madison University's Leah Nitzan.
"I was so surprised to even place because of the fall on the bars, and I certainly didn't think I'd make it on the podium," said Friesen. "Last year, I couldn't make it on the podium, since they only honored three spots, so this performance was so satisfying."
Meanwhile, Scott and Friesen were inseparable as the only two Lopes competing in Level 9, and their success was contagious for each other. Scott – who hails from Grand Rapids, Michigan – was steady throughout the competition in her inaugural nationals effort, matching Friesen's 9.3 mark on the floor exercise while finishing 13
th in the vault (9.35) and posting a 9.25 on the bars to nose Penn State University's Brooke Anderson out of the overall top 10 by .025 of a point.
The Platinum level (the third of the three levels) is sometimes where you see first-year participants get flustered as they learn, but Haun's calm demeanor belied the fact that the Gilroy, California, native was here for the first time. Haun was never off the leaderboard from her first vault Thursday on, with marks ranging from 9.275 (bars) and 9.325 (beam) to a 9.5 in the floor and a 9.55 in vault, which narrowly missed winning the category if it weren't for Northern Arizona University's McKenna Selbach's 9.65. Haun's all-around finish was less than two tenths of a point out of the Platinum top 5. Love zoomed to a 14
th-place all-around finish in Platinum – thanks to a 9.35 mark she stuck on the vault, which gave her 7
th place in that category and an overall score of 37.35.
"I was pleasantly surprised by how the team came together on every day of the competition," said Friesen. "We were all rallying together – even with having to get up early every morning to cheer everyone on – whether you were competing in that session or not. It was the closest I've felt with everyone this year. Even though we were all in hotel rooms together – many for the first time - I was really pleased by how well everyone bonded. It was a great way to end the year, and it was the 'cherry on top of the sundae' for me."
