2017 RUTGERS GYMNASTICS

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1 2017 RUTGERS GYMNASTICS 2017 SCHEDULE/RESULTS Jan. 7 BRIDGEPORT W, NEW HAMPSHIRE L, WILLIAM & MARY W, Jan. 14 at Illinois* L, vs. Eastern Michigan L, vs. Illinois-Chicago W, Jan. 21 NEBRASKA* 7 p.m. BROWN WEST CHESTER Jan. 28 MICHIGAN STATE* 7 p.m. CORNELL URSINUS Feb. 4 at Ohio State* 4 p.m. Feb. 11 MARYLAND* 7 p.m. PENN YALE Feb. 19 at Illinois-Chicago 3 p.m. Feb. 24 at Towson 7 p.m. March 3 at Southeast Missouri 7:30 p.m. vs. Texas Woman s March 5 at Central Michigan 1 p.m. March 11 at Iowa* (Big Five Qualifier) TBA vs. Michigan* vs. Minnesota* vs. Penn State* March 18 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS Noon/5 p.m. * - Big Ten All Times Eastern 2017 ROSTER RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS Coach: Louis Levine (Sixth Season) Last Time Out: Website: ScarletKnights.com Twitter Name Year Height Hometown/High School Riahanah Ali So. 5-2 Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron Michelle Amoresano So. 5-0 Whippany, N.J./Whippany Park April Baker Sr. 5-2 Andover, Mass./Andover Jenna Crisalli Jr. 5-1 Freehold, N.J./Freehold Boro Chloe DeVries Fr. 5-2 Venice, Fla./Venice Libby Groden Jr. 5-4 Abbottstown, Pa./New Oxford Kaitlyn Hall Fr. 5-5 Raytown, Mo./Raytown Claire Jones Sr. 5-2 Gaffney, S.C./Gaffney Emma Karas Fr. 5-3 Port Matilda, Pa./State College Area Erin McLachlan Fr. 5-0 Bradford, Great Britain/Huddersfield New College Anne Marie Neggia So. 5-6 Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon Polina Poliakova Fr. 5-3 Norwich, Great Britain/Notre Dame Jenna Rizkalla So. 5-3 Westfield, N.J./Westfield Charly Santagado Sr Celebration, Fla./Florida Virtual Eriel Santagado So. 5-1 Celebration, Fla./Florida Virtual Makenzey Shank Jr. 5-4 Phoenix, Ariz./Saguaro Head Coach: Louis Levine (Sixth season, ninth on staff) Assistant Coach: Danielle D Elia (Fourth season) Assistant Coach: Teri Diamond (Second season) Meet #3 (3-3, 0-1) vs. No. 10 Nebraska/Brown/West Chester Saturday, January 21 7 p.m. ET Piscataway, N.J. Livingston Gym AVG RANK SEASON HIGH TEAM T T BARS BEAM FLOOR RANK: 10 AVG: SEASON HIGH: RANK: 51 AVG: SEASON HIGH: RANK: 57 AVG: SEASON HIGH:

2 QUICK FACTS GENERAL INFORMATION Location...New Brunswick, N.J. Founded Enrollment... 67,000 Nickname... Scarlet Knights Color... Scarlet Affiliation... NCAA Division I Conference...Big Ten President...Robert L. Barchi Director of Athletics... Patrick Hobbs Mascot... Scarlet Knight Ticket Office GORU COACHING STAFF Head Coach... Louis Levine Season... Sixth (Ninth on Staff) Alma Mater... Michigan 02 Assistant Coach...Danielle D Elia Season... Third (Fourth on Staff) Alma Mater Assistant Coach... Teri Diamond Season... Second Alma Mater... North Carolina 11 PREVIOUS TEAM INFORMATION 2016 High Score: Letterwinners R/L:...8/7 Newcomers:... 6 ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS Gymnastics Contact:...Jimmy Gill Office Phone:... (732) Cell Phone:... (732) Office Fax:... (732) jgill@scarletknights.com Twitter:...@RUGymnastics Athletics Website:... THE LEVINE FILE CAREER RECORD: Present Head Gymnastics Coach, University Piscataway, N.J : Assistant Gymnastics Coach, University Piscataway, N.J : Director of Operations, Eventwise Adelaide, Australia : Assistant Director, International Gymnastics Camp Stroudsburg, Pa : Assistant Men s Gymnastics Coach, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. 2003: Assistant Gymnastics Coach, USA Gymnastics Indianapolis, Ind : Assistant Media Director, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. Louis Levine, who led gymnastics to the NCAA Regionals in 2014, is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Scarlet Knights. The season is his ninth overall in Piscataway as the program is in year three in the Big Ten Conference. Levine has transitioned the Scarlet Knights into the Big Ten, raising the level both in the gym and in the classroom. The program has had 28 NACGC/W Scholastic All-Americans under his five-year watch with a perfect 1,000 APR score in the latest NCAA report, which measures eligibility, graduation and retention each term. The multiyear mark in the report continues to sit among the top gymnastics programs nationally. In addition, 16 members of the program have achieved Academic All-Big Ten status in the two years in the conference. gymnastics has sent representatives to NCAA Regionals in each of the five years under Levine, including a team appearance in Scores have also been on the rise with nine of the top 10 team marks in program history happening in the last four seasons, with the record of set on March 8, Interest in the program has also soared, as each of the last seven meets at the Livingston Recreation Center have been sold out. Consequently, three meets in the last two seasons have taken place at the RAC to accomodate more fans. RU will open its doors to the conference by hosting the 2017 Big Ten Championships at the RAC in March. In 2016, the Scarlet Knights featured a balanced lineup across the board with contributions from both newcomers and veterans. Each event reached at least once with the Scarlet Knights topping the 195-mark three times during the campaign. Floor exercise ended up with the highest RQS at , as freshman Riahanah Ali earned All-Championship Team at the Big Ten Championships, a meet where RU hit all 24 routines overall. Levine guided three individuals to NCAA Regionals - Michelle Amoresano (vault), Libby Groden (all-around) and Nicolette Wilson (vault) - to continue a streak of sending competitors to the NCAA level. Also worth noting, RU earned its first Big Ten dual meet by taking down Maryland with a , a mark that featured a on vault. Levine transitioned the Scarlet Knights into the Big Ten in 2015, as the team placed three gymnasts at NCAA Regionals and broke the school record on floor exercise (49.375). At the Big Ten Championships, televised live on Big Ten Network, RU tied for the highest score on vault in its session. In guiding to a break-through season in 2014, Levine earned both East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Coach of the Year and the NACGC/W Northeast Region Head Coach of the Year. RU shattered nearly every record under Levine in 2014, including six of the top 10 scores in school history at the time, with a program-high on Senior Day. The season was highlighted by the team s appearance at the NCAA Regionals in Athens, Ga., qualifying with a program-best RQS of The trip marked the program s first showing since 2007 and the first time under the new format. The Scarlet Knights broke two event records as well, recording program-bests on vault and floor exercise. In correlation to the rising scores, brought in seven weekly conference honors on the season, with at least two in each of the three categories. Six different gymnasts picked up 11 All-EAGL accolades and 12 earned All-Scholastic Team recognition. RU registered a tie for third at EAGL Championships ( ), the best placement and score in school history at the meet. Additionally, RU went 17-5 head-to-head in the regular season with three wins over ranked opponents. Following Levine s leadership, Alexis Gunzelman finished her career by becoming the first all-arounder in school history to qualify for NCAA Nationals. She was the first Scarlet Knight to reach the national level since Courtney Turner in 2002 (floor exercise). Gunzelman also earned her third Team MVP and first-team all-league five times for her performance as a senior. In 2013, continued its growth, recording four of its top six scores at the time. The highlight of the 2013 season came on Senior Day when notched the then-program-record to win a quad meet. The mark shattered the previous high of set back in Levine sent four individual competitors to NCAA Regionals. Under Levine, Luisa Leal, who missed most to the 2012 season, was awarded EAGL Team MVP. The junior s highlight of the season came in the March 8 meet at Towson where she broke her own school all-around record with a to win EAGL Gymnast of the Week. Leal placed at least tied for first in every event, notching a career-high score on floor exercise. In his first season as head coach, Levine led the squad to a record. The team had its best performance of the season at the EAGL Championships, notching a score of Under Levine, Gunzelman qualified for NCAA Regionals as an individual. She also earned a First Team All-EAGL All-Around spot and a fifth-place finish at the EAGL Championships, the highest placing ever by a Scarlet Knight at that event at the time. With Levine s guidance, Danielle D Elia, Gunzelman and Jenna Zito picked up Second Team All-EAGL Floor honors, Gunzelman earned Second Team Bars and Alyssa Straub was recognized with Second Team All-Around accolades. Academically, 11 gymnasts earned Scholastic All-America awards from the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACG- C/W). Levine was officially hired as head coach on May 9, In his three prior seasons on the staff under coach Chrystal Chollet-Norton, the Scarlet Knights achieved great success. The 2011 squad established a school-record for victories in a season with a 19-8 overall mark and enjoyed its then-highest-ever finish and score (fifth and ) in the EAGL Championships. Three gymnasts - D Elia, Zito and Leal - earned a berth in the NCAA Regionals, marking the program s first representation in the regionals since Levine helped coach three gymnasts to All-EAGL honors, including Leal who was named the EAGL Rookie of the Year in her first season On the Banks. As a team, the Scarlet Knights improved their regional qualifying score to , improving from the previous year s score of Floor exercise proved to be the most successful event of the season, with RU posting a RQS and breaking the then-school-record The team also saw success on vault, posting a , which now stands as the second-best score in school history. The uneven bars were the event that the Scarlet Knights improved most in by notching the best mark at the EAGL Championships (48.900). A native of Maplewood, N.J., Levine returned to his home state after three years as the Director of the International Gymnastics Camp in Stroudsburg, Pa., from He also coached at Surgent s Elite School of Gymnastics in Roselle Park, N.J., from Levine spent time with the USA Gymnastics team in Daegu, South Korea, where he was an assistant coach for the World University Games. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, where he served three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from Levine oversaw all aspects of Michigan s recruiting operations and helped organize the program s operating budget. During his time at Michigan, he served on the planning committee for the program s freshman student-athlete orientation program, helping mentor newcomers. While a member of the Wolverines staff, he coached 2003 NCAA Vault Champion Andrew DiGiore. He has coached several Junior National Team and Senior National Team members and a Junior National Champion in the all-around. Levine is no stranger to the Big Ten, as he competed on the vault during his time at Michigan, where he helped guide the Wolverines to a pair of Big Ten titles in 1999 and 2000 and the 1999 NCAA Championship. He was a two-time recipient of the Coaches Appreciation Award. Levine received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2002 and Master s from the American InterContinental University Business School in A decorated gymnast, Levine attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. He currently resides in nearby Springfield, N.J. 2

3 GYMNASTICS RETURNS HOME FOR QUAD MEET PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Jan. 18, 2017) gymnastics will return to the Livingston Gym Saturday at 7 p.m. to host No. 10 Nebraska, Brown and West Chester in a quad meet. A limited number of tickets are still available by calling GORU or visiting ScarletKnights.com, as the first 500 fans in attendance will receive a black headband. HEAD COACH LOUIS LEVINE Q&A On message to the team this week: We want to stay positive and talked about coming in every day with a positive attitude. We want to come together more as a team to work hard, be more proactive in our approach and really focus in on accomplishing the goals we set forth. The Scarlet Knights are coming off a in a road quad meet at Illinois, scoring best on balance beam with a Junior Makenzey Shank highlighted the beam rotation with a and also led the team with a on uneven bars. RU placed third in the meet ahead of Illinois-Chicago and behind Illinois and Eastern Michigan. Junior Libby Groden and freshman Chloe DeVries have both competed all-around to start the season, with Groden scoring as high as In addition, senior Claire Jones has started off with a in three of her four routines on vault and balance beam. This week s meet is the second of five consecutive Big Ten meets for. The Scarlet Knights will start off on vault, while Nebraska will begin at uneven bars, Brown at balance beam and West Chester at floor exercise. On practice this week: You re not going to reinvent the wheel, but we want to get back in here and keep pushing forward on routines and skills. We have more and more people competing for spots. Competition in the gym turns into better competition on the floor. Last weekend was a meet to learn from. On balance beam last week and putting four events together: It was a good performance on beam, better than the week before. But there is still room for improvement. Any given week beam can be the best, or vault or floor, anyone of the events. This past week it happened to be beam, but when we are really successful it means we are putting together four really strong events. We need 20 scores to come together for the end score. If we have a great beam team, but struggle on the others, we are not going to be a great team. And we want to be a great team altogether. On competing at home: It is always great to be home and have your fans behind you. The hope is that we start strong and build momentum with the crowd and carry that with us throughout the meet. 3

4 TEAM TOTAL (Jan. 7) (Jan. 14) (Jan. 7) (Jan. 14) UNEVEN BARS (Jan. 7) (Jan. 14) (Jan. 14) (Jan. 7) (Jan. 7) (Jan. 14) 2017 TOP SCORES INDIVIDUAL ALL-AROUND : Groden (Jan. 7) : Groden (Jan. 14) : DeVries (Jan. 7) 9.775: Jones (Jan. 7) 9.750: DeVries (Jan. 14) 9.750: DeVries (Jan. 7) UNEVEN BARS 9.775: Shank (Jan. 14) 9.750: Amoresano (Jan. 7) 9.750: Shank (Jan. 7) 9.825: Shank (Jan. 14) 9.775: Jones (Jan. 14) 9.775: Jones (Jan. 7) 9.750: Ali (Jan. 14) 9.750: Groden (Jan. 7) 9.725: Groden (Jan. 14) SCHOOL RECORDS INDIVIDUAL ALL-AROUND Luisa Leal: March 8, Luisa Leal: March 2, 2013 BARS Dawn Campbell: March 1, Lisa Abrams: Jan. 21 & March 13, Courtney Turner: March 8, Feb. 9, March 8, Feb. 14, March 1, 2014 BARS March 1, Feb. 26, Jan. 24, Feb. 28, March 1, March 22, March 7, March 8, March 2, 2013 TEAM TOTAL (* - road meet) March 8, March 2, March 1, 2014* March 8, 2013* Feb. 28, 2016* Feb. 26, Jan. 24, March 22, 2014* Jan. 19, 2014* Jan. 17, 2014* 2017 MEET-BY-MEET DATE LOCATION RESULT TEAM BARS BEAM FLOOR TOP OPPONENT Jan. 7 2/ New Hampshire ( ) Jan. 14 Illinois 3/ Illinois ( ) Jan. 21 Jan. 28 Feb. 4 Feb. 11 Feb. 19 Feb. 24 Ohio State Illinois-Chicago Towson March 3 Southeast Missouri March 5 Central Michigan March 11 March 18 Iowa 4

5 2017 HEADSHOT ROSTER RIAHANAH ALI Ann Arbor, Mich. MICHELLE AMORESANO Whippany, N.J. APRIL BAKER Senior Andover, Mass. JENNA CRISALLI Junior Freehold, N.J. CHLOE DEVRIES Venice, Fla. LIBBY GRODEN Junior Abbottstown, Pa. KAITLYN HALL Raytown, Mo. CLAIRE JONES Senior Gaffney, S.C. EMMA KARAS Port Matilda, Pa. ERIN MCLACHLAN Bradford, U.K. ANNE MARIE NEGGIA Kinnelon, N.J. POLINA POLIAKOVA Norwich, G.B. JENNA RIZKALLA Westfield, N.J. CHARLY SANTAGADO Senior Celebration, Fla. ERIEL SANTAGADO Celebration, Fla. MAKENZEY SHANK Junior Phoenix, Ariz. LOUIS LEVINE Head Coach Sixth Season DANIELLE D ELIA Assistant Coach Fourth Season TERI DIAMOND Assistant Coach Second Season PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Riahanah...Ray Amoresano... A-more-es-ano Crisalli... Chris-all-ee DeVries... Da-Vreeze McLachlan...Mc-lack-lin Neggia... Neh-gia Poliakova...Polly-uh-kova Rizkalla... Riz-call-ah Santagado... Santa-gado Levine... Lev-veen 5

6 Statistics by Gymnast : Season Page: 1 Riahanah Ali H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Michelle Amoresano H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High April Baker H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Jenna Crisalli H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Chloe DeVries H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Libby Groden H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Claire Jones H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Scores in italic set or tied a personal record. Scores in bold set or tied a team record. Scores with a strike-through were exhibition. Gymnastics ScoreKeeper by Beaver Creek Software (541) Licensed to: University

7 Statistics by Gymnast : Season Page: 2 Polina Poliakova H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Jenna Rizkalla H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Eriel Santagado H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Makenzey Shank H 1/07/2017 vs Bridgeport/New Hampshire/William A 1/14/2017 at Illinois w/e Michigan, UIC Average Season High Career High Scores in italic set or tied a personal record. Scores in bold set or tied a team record. Scores with a strike-through were exhibition. Gymnastics ScoreKeeper by Beaver Creek Software (541) Licensed to: University