When everyone outside Chapel Hill hears a mention of the University of North Carolina athletics, they instinctively think of basketball, but the school has competitive teams in a wide range of sports.
With coach Derek Galvin at the helm, the UNC women's gymnastics team has been a conferene contender in the EAGL (sort of like a gymnastics' equivalent of the ACC) for quite some time.
The Lady Tar Heels lose the talents of Christine Robella, Claire Smith, Courtney Turco and Miranda Ross, but they maintain key gymnasts like Shawna Kelly, Angela Lauten and Sarrie Rubin on this year's team.
The season starts on Jan. 20 at George Washington University with a meet that will also include William & Mary, Rutgers and Temple.
The first home meet will be on Feb. 10 against rival North Carolina State. The Tar Heels later host national powerhouse The University of Florida on Feb. 22. This is followed by the Tar Heel Invitational on March 1.
The Tar Heels also face NC St. again, along with SEC power LSU, in nearby Raleigh on March 15.
The regular season concludes with the EAGL Championships in Morgantown, WVa. (The Tarheels also go West Virginia University for a meet with the Mountaineers on Feb. 15).
I personally got interested in collegiate women's gymnastics when I followed them while I was at Radford University in Radford, Va., from 1993-96. The school sadly decided to cut the program. Earlier this year, another Virginia school James Madison University in Harrisonburg decided to end their program too.
Unlike football or basketball, women's gymnastics is a sport that strongly relies on support from students and the community. I hope UNC enjoys that support for many years to come, and I expect they will have another succesful season this year.
UPDATE: I plan to add an entry about North Carolina State's women's gymnastics team here soon.
SECOND UPDATE: A UNC gymnastics fan said I needed to add gymnast Christine Nguyen. As I recall she was also a stand-out gymnast with the Tar Heels last year. No snub of Ms. Nguyen was intended, and I hope she enjoys a great year in the gym.Useful Links:
Note: The comment from Dawn Crawford to this blog entry has nothing to do with UNC women's gymnastics. It was probably added because of political content which has previously been posted on this blog. I hope everyone realizes that those comments- like all comments on this blog-were not solicited from me.
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