Rising to the Occasion Marks a Winning Season: Last year, Michael Deitz’s mother passed away right as we entered the height of the season. The character that Michael, one of our team captains, showed in handling this tradegy and the character that the men’s gymnastics team as a whole showed in supporting Michael was quite simply off the charts. An entire team rose to the occasion and showed a level of class that could serve as an example of the caliber of education and enrichment that continually occurs at William and Mary and enhances its presence as a historically great university.
We finished third at both the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships and the ECAC Championships. Michael Deitz not only won the national high bar title but was also designated as the Senior Athlete of the Year at the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships. Aria Sabbagh (second in the all-around), Jason Wang (third on pommel horse), Peter Ten Eyck (fourth on pommel horse) and Jeremiah McReynolds (sixth on rings) earned USAG Collegiate All-American designation while Nick Van Dyke just missed on vaulting. At the ECAC Championships, Rob (PB), Michael (HB), Nick, and Keaton Ackerman (PH) received All-ECAC honors for their outstanding performance.
Our team ended the season ranked 14th in the NCAA’s final statistics with seven gymnasts advancing to compete in the NCAA Championship qualifying rounds as Peter, Keaton, and Jason competed on the pommel horse, Aria in the all-around, Nick on vaulting, Rob on the parallel bars, and Michael on floor exercise, vaulting, and high bar. Michael was honored by being selected to give the student-athlete speech at the NCAA Banquet in which he captured the essence of intercollegiate sport and received a standing ovation (you can view his speech on You Tube at http://youtu.be/w7iRMBKxfR0). Jason, Keaton, and Michael just missed advancing to round two of the championship as Jason finished as the first alternate on pommel horse and Keaton and Michael as the second alternates on PH and HB respectively.
A Record Seventh National Academic Title—A sustained effort over an entire school year by the William and Mary men’s gymnastics team resulted in combined team grade point average of 3.458. This dedication enabled them to defend the national academic team title that they won the year before with a record breaking 3.622 team grade point. The Tribe gymnasts have now put together an incredible streak by winning three of the last four national academic titles. In addition, they have earned a standard setting, seventh College Gymnastics Association national academic title since the team award was first established in 1991 (we also won in 1991, 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2014, & 2105 while placing second in 1994, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, & 2013). The William and Mary gymnasts continue to hold the number one position in total individual All-American Scholar-Athlete Awards.
Through astounding effort, ten of our gymnats earned W&M Provost Awards for maintaining cumulative grade point averages above 3.5. Peter Ten Eyck led the way with his fourth straight while earning a degree is in finance and entrepreneurship with a minor in creative writing. Rising seniors Neal Courter (chemistry and French) and Adam Avant (pre-med) earned their third Provost Awards while Keaton Ackerman (accounting) earned his second. Rising juniors Aria Sabbagh (pre-med) and Mat Turnansky (theoretical math) each received their second award while rising sophomores Mitchell Campbell (leaning toward math); Jake Feldmann (leaning toward neuroscience), Jeremiah Mc Reynolds (looking at combining computer science with international relations) and Ryan Metzger (leaning toward finance) all received their first Provost Award.
The Rock, the Mister, and other Team Awards--For the past 41 years the Rock Award has been awarded to the either to the hardest working gymnast, the gymnast who has overcome significant obstacles to his success, and/or to the gymnast that can always be counted on when the going gets tough. Each year the Rock is passed from Rock to Rock in a season ending cerremony. This year Michael Deitz awarded the Rock to J. J. Jindra who through great effort and perseverance came back from a mid-season knee injury to score significant points for the team in the USA Gymnastics and ECAC Championships. Since J. J. is a senior, the Pebble Award was given to Keaton Ackerman and Adam Avant for their hard work and development in the gym. Since 1987 the prestigious William and Mary Mister Award has been given to the member of the team who in the eyes of his teammates is most inspiratinal to and responsible for the team’s character and success. This year’s Mister Award went to Michael Deitz.
Another Big Splash at the All Sports Awards Banquet--Neal Courter received the Bruce Davidson Award as the rising senior with the most outstanding combination of athletic and academic excellence. Jeremiah McReynolds received the all sports Rookie of the Year Award for his athletic accomplishments as a freshman. Michael Deitz received the coveted “Griffy Award” as well as the Student Athletic Advisory Committee’s community service award (our entire team, which won the award last year, was one of the three finalists this year). Michael served as director of the Williamsburg National Eating Disorder Association awareness and fund raising walk, advisor to the W&M National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk, and service chair for the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. He also directed our yealy canned food drive which brought over 2700 pounds of food (we are now over 17,000 pounds since we started collection in 2007) and was recognized by the William and Mary Secret Seven Society and the Williamsburg Magazine for his leadership in the community. Michael is also one of the three finalists for the Tribe Club’s Senior Athlete of the Year along with football’s Tre McBride and basketball’s Marcus Thornton. The winner of the senior athlete of the year award, which was won by gymnast Landon Funiciello last year, will be announced at the Homecoming football game this fall.
