2021 Centenary Ladies Gymnastics Season Preview
February 7, 2021 could not come soon enough for the Centenary Ladies gymnastics team. Good news is that the day has finally arrived.
The Ladies will finally open their 2021 season at home on Sunday as they host the Air Force Falcons and the Texas Woman's University Pioneers in a tri-meet set for 4 p.m. at the Gold Dome. Live stats and live video are available for Sunday's meet at the following links:
Video: https://collegetvticket.com/portal/centenary
Stats: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/gymnastics/2020-21/files/20200118.htm
Excitement, anticipation, and expectations for this season are high as the Ladies are coming off of another successful campaign under the leadership of veteran head coach Jackie Fain who enters her 10th season with the Maroon and White. Centenary finished the abbreviated 2020 season ranked first in the nation in division III in the Road to Nationals rankings for the second year in a row and also finished the season ranked No. 1 on vault and beam and No. 2 on bars and floor in all of division III.
The Ladies had individual athletes finished ranked No. 1 on vault, floor and all-around, second on beam and third, fourth and fifth on bars in division III and were on pace to have their highest season average since 2013. Fain was named the Regional Coach of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association last season., earning the honor following a vote by her fellow head coaches. The award is the second major honor Fain has garnered in her tenure with the Ladies as she was named the 2013 Midwest Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year.
We are so excited to finally start our 2021 season," said Fain. "We've had a couple of meets cancelled in January, so the Ladies are ready to get out on the competition floor. We are grateful we will have the opportunity to compete and I know they will give their all to represent Centenary to the best of their ability."
It has been a very challenging pre-season with all of the COVID protocols, but our Ladies have dealt with all of the adversities with grace and a positive outlook. Since getting the call, while we were on the road to Southeast Missouri meet last March, that our season was over and we had to turn the bus around and go home, to leaving campus one day later and finishing the semester virtually, and then having our gyms shut down for 3 to 4 months, these Ladies have been working towards and waiting for this day."
"In gymnastics, not being in the gym for even two weeks is a long time," said Fain. "Many of our team members were out of the gym for 12 weeks or more last spring and into summer. Then with the slow resocialization of coming back to campus and getting back into doing our sport full time, it has been nothing less than difficult. We've had many of our Ladies quarantined at different times, a handful of them have been quarantined several times, which is also a hindrance on our training, setting them back over and over again."
I am so proud of this teams' resilience and perseverance. They are an amazing group of young women, and have been willing to do whatever it takes to get back to competition (even doing gymnastics with masks on!). We may be starting a month behind schedule, and not at full strength, but we are beyond thrilled to be putting on those competition leotards and competing again."
Junior Kendall sanders (Spring Branch, Texas) is coming off of a superb sophomore season in which she was named to the 2020 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association DIII regular season All-America Team in the all-around with an SAS of 38.28. She was also named a MIC Scholar-Athlete. Sanders was also named a 2020 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Nationals All-American as she received second team honors in the all-around. She was also named a USA Gymnastics Scholar Athlete, an award given to sophomores and up, earning a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA.
Senior Sierra Ponder (Stone Mountain, Ga.) competed in all 10 of the Ladies' meets last season on bars, finishing with a SAS of 9.509. She was named a MIC scholar-athlete and was the recipient of the Sylvia Keiter Memorial Award, which honors one gymnast from the conference who best exemplifies character traits of former Centenary gymnast Sylvia Keiter, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2018.
Junior Kendall Knaps (Prairieville, La.) competed in all 10 of the Ladies' meets last season in the bars, beam, and floor. She earned high scores of 9.625 on bars, 9.7 on beam, 9.7 on floor. Knaps was named a USA Gymnastics Scholar Athlete, a Midwest Independent Conference scholar-athlete and also named a WCGA Academic All-American for 2019-2020. Senior Jenny Jackson (Monticello, Fla.) saw action in all 10 of the Ladies' meets during the 2020 season competing on the bars, floor, and vault. Her high scores for the season included a 9.525 on vault, 9.65 on bars, 9.675 on floor. She was named a MIC scholar-athlete and was also named a WCGA Academic All-American for 2019-2020.
The Ladies' 2021 roster features just three seniors; Jerrica Harris (Memphis, Tenn.) and Jackson and Ponder, and welcomes four freshmen. Eight sophomores and a talented trio of juniors which includes Knaps and Sanders makes up the remainder of the roster.
"We are coming off a phenomenal year last year in which we finished ranked number one in DIII, we received a total of seven All-American awards, and our athletes were awarded with three of the four MIC conference awards. While we lost two key members from last year, we are returning a strong group of experienced competitors who have set some high expectations for this team."
"All three of our seniors; All-American Sierra Ponder, Jenny Jackson and Jerrica Harris, have been staples in our line-ups their entire careers. They are ready to finish their careers in style, and I expect all of them to play a huge role in our success this year."
"Junior Kendall Sanders, a three-time All-American is back after surgery this summer, and stronger than ever. Kendall has competed all-around every meet of her career but one, and will lead our team with her experience and fierce competitiveness. Her classmates, Kendall Knaps and Xian Baumgartner round out this talented class with a 1-2-3 punch. You will see all three of them in many line-ups this season."
"I think our sophomore class of eight is going to surprise some people this year – they are going to be the key to our depth. Many of them did not get a chance to prove themselves last year with the strong upper-class women we had, and several of them were working through injures when they came in as freshman. Now they are now back to full strength and ready to go. Rose Deshler, Kendall Huff, Leilani Johnson, Kennedy Stephens, Lauryn Stiff, Lacey Wedge and Taylor Wilson are all names you should be watching for."
That leaves us with our newcomers. They are coming along and I know they are looking forward to starting their collegiate careers. Courtney Tripp will be one to watch, she is a potential all-arounder for us and a beautiful gymnast. Rylie Molina is coming off an injury from her senior year and is working to break into line-ups. Isabel Plaza and Roxanne Myers will get some experience as the season progresses and both certainly have the potential to contribute in a big way to our success."
Centenary hits the road for the first time next weekend as the Ladies are scheduled to compete in the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 13 as they face TWU, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. The Ladies will then see TWU for a third week in a row as the Pioneers will host Centenary on Feb. 19 in Denton, Texas at 6 p.m. The Ladies will celebrate their three seniors in their final home meet of the regular season on March 12 against TWU at 6 p.m.
The Ladies' complete 2021 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/gymnastics/2020-21/schedule. Live stats and live video are available for both of the Ladies' home meets of the season.
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