Senior Night Set For First Tri Meet
SEATTLE - Senior Night is up next for the Washington GymDawgs, who will host Stanford and Boise State on Sunday, March 7 at 2:00 pm PT. This meet will be aired live and free via the Washington live stream. Washington will be honoring its two seniors this weekend, Geneva Thompson and Allie Smith.
This is the first and only tri meet of the year for the GymDawgs. It's also the start of a flurry of competition for Washington, which will have three meets in seven days starting with the Stanford and Boise State meet. After that, Washington will host Cal on Wednesday, March 10, then head to Berkeley to take on Cal again on Sunday, March 14. The March 10 meet against Cal will not count as a Pac-12 competition.
Thompson has won four event titles this season: one on vault, two on bars, and one all-around title. Entering 2021, Thompson had never won an event title on anything but vault: she had seven vault titles before this year. If Thompson can add a beam title in the next three weeks, she would be the first GymDawg since Hailey Burleson in 2017 to win a title on every event in the same season.
Thompson has had at least one score of 9.800 or higher in 15 consecutive meets. She last missed that mark in the season opener of 2020, recording a 9.750 on her only event, bars. The last GymDawg to have a longer streak was Madison Copiak, who managed 40 consecutive meets with a score of 9.800 or higher on one event.
Smith has put up at least one score of 9.800 or higher in back-to-back meets for the first time in her Washington career. Her score of 9.825 on floor against Arizona State was a new career high across her collegiate career.
Katie McNamara and Skylar Killough-Wilhelm had combined for four event titles this year, two each. They are the first freshmen to win event titles for Washington since 2017. The last GymDawg freshman with more event titles in their freshman season was Zoey Schaefer, who had four floor titles in 2015. Schaeefer and Hailey Burleson were the last freshmen with multiple titles, both in 2015.
11 of Amara Cunningham's last 12 floor routines have earned a score of 9.800 or higher, stretching back to the 2019 season. Cunningham has a score of 9.800 or higher on floor in nine straight meets. The last GymDawg to go double-digit routines on floor with a score of 9.800 or higher was Hailey Burleson, who had a 13-routine streak in 2018.
Five different freshmen have competed this season for the GymDawgs, with a sixth, Taylor Russon, completing exhibitions thus far. That is the most since 2015, when the GymDawgs also had five freshmen compete. Washington last had more in 2006, when six freshmen competed.
Seven different GymDawgs have already made their collegiate debuts this year: Morgan Bowles, Isa Weiss, Katie McNamara, Skylar Killough-Wilhelm, Cathy Eksteen, Gabi Wickman, and Lauren Thomas.
Make sure to follow the GymDawgs on social media at @UWGymnastics.