April 15, 2025

Gymnastics Selected as "Team of the Week"

The Centenary gymnastics team has been selected as Centenary Athletics' "Team of the Week" after the Ladies hosted the 2025 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitational Championships last weekend at the Gold Dome.

Shreveport – The Centenary gymnastics team has been selected as Centenary Athletics' "Team of the Week" after the Ladies hosted the 2025 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitational Championships last weekend at the Gold Dome.

The prestigious event, formerly named the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships, featured the host Ladies along with the University of Alaska, the University of Bridgeport, Greenville University, Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), Southern Connecticut State University, Texas Woman's University, and West Chester University and eight individuals also competed.

Senior Emma Lavelle (Mandeville, La.) finished her superb career in grand fashion on Sunday as she scored a career-high 9.80 on floor in the individual finals after she earned a previous career-best 9.775 on Friday night in the opening session. Lavelle earned First-Team All-American status based on her appearance in the individual finals.

Lavelle, who was competing at nationals for the third time in her career, was named a finalist for the prestigious AAI Award sponsored by American Athletic Inc. (AAI) on March 4 as she is the only division III gymnast of the 59 nominees in the country.

Centenary head coach Meg Crowley was named the WCGNIC Coach of the Year, it was announced at the official team welcome banquet prior to the championships and senior Sophie Schmitz (Trophy Club, Texas) received the "Outstanding Senior Athlete Award" on Sunday afternoon during the post-meet awards ceremony. The prestigious award goes to the highest scoring all around senior athlete based off of Friday's results in which Schmitz finished fifth in the AA with a score of 37.850. Her best score of the meet was a 9.70 on bars followed by a 9.525 on vault. She competed at nationals for the second season in a row.

Fourteen Centenary gymnasts were named WCGNIC 2025 Scholar-Athletes as they held either a cumulative 3.3 GPA or Fall semester GPA of 3.3. Five Ladies had 4.0 GPAs in the fall semester - sophomore Hayden Cagle (Austin, Texas), freshman Molly English (Newnan, Ga.), freshman Chloe Gilbert (Pflugerville, Texas), senior Emma Lavelle (Mandeville, La.), and junior Olivia Stratmann (Houston, Texas).

The following is the complete list of the scholar-athletes: Freshman Peyton Burford (West Monroe, La.), Hayden Cagle, freshman Skyla Cruz (El Paso, Texas), Molly English, junior Claire Flores (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Chloe Gilbert, freshman Anna Ichiba (Murphy, Texas), Emma Lavelle, freshman Olivia Montgomery (Willard, Mo.), sophomore Brooke Murdock (Garland, Texas), junior Sophie Schmitz (Trophy Club, Texas), Olivia Stratmann, senior Mylia Vidtor (The Colony, Texas), and sophomore Olivia Williams (Cape Coral, Fla.)