The Big Red women's gymnastics team made a historic showing at the 2006 USA Gymnastics (USAG) Collegiate National Championships, April 13-15, in Newman Arena at Cornell.

The women's team placed third during preliminaries April 13, making Cornell the first non-scholarship athletic program ever to advance to the finals of the USAG. The Cornell team posted a 190.700, its best score of the season, to hold off the College of William and Mary and defending champion Rutgers University.

All six Cornell gymnasts competing in the finals earned All-America honors and finished among the top eight in their respective events.

In the women's team final April 14, sophomore Colleen Davis tied for first on vault and junior Randi Bisbano placed second on beam, each scoring 9.800. Other top eight finishers were junior Kari Kucera (third, with 9.725) and sophomore Leslie Gregory (fifth, with 9.700) on floor, senior Cathy Schnell on bars (eighth, with 9.500) and sophomore Megan Gilbert on vault (seventh, 9.675).

Gilbert was an All-American on vault but did not compete in the finals due to tiebreaker rules for eighth place. She had Cornell's highest score in its other team event, posting a 9.75 on floor to finish third among the nine finalists.

In the individual finals April 15, Davis led Cornell with a second-place finish on vault. Davis scored matching 9.725s on her two vaults, behind Centenary College's Meredith Smith at 9.750. Gregory, who was Cornell's only two-event finalist, and freshman Sari Tepper both placed eighth on the apparatus, with a 9.575 average.

Gregory also earned fourth place in the floor event with a score of 9.725, while Kucera's 9.675 was good for sixth place. William and Mary's Brittany Gibbs and Jess Randall tied for the floor title with a 9.775.

"I am elated and proud of the entire team," said head coach Paul Beckwith. "I'm just so pleased for them because they've worked so hard. It's a performance sport, and you have to be right on when it really counts. I think they got through the nerves, and all they'd done in previous meets prepared them mentally for this."

Beckwith, who has taken five teams to the nationals, said the 2005-06 team boasts three all-Ivy champions and two ECAC champions.

"We have the smallest team we've had in 10 years, and it's the most successful," he said.

Other event winners for the women included Texas Woman's University competitors Bethany Rehm on bars (9.725) and Courtney Arno on beam (9.750).

In the men's finals, Andrew Hunt of William and Mary was the top competitor, earning championships on parallel bars (8.450) and high bars (9.050). Brandon Cook of Navy won the floor competition (9.275), while his teammate Adam Stanton captured the pommel horse crown (8.450). William and Mary's Jeff Jaekle was the still-rings champion with a 9.050, and the University of Washington's Jeff Crockett captured vault with his 9.525 effort. Cornell does not have a men's gymnastics program.