North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Seaman heads to NCAA Championship
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Taylor Seaman put her team disappointment aside, sprinkled a few extra sparkles in her hair and had the best performance of her life in the final rotation of the NCAA Southeast Regional two weeks ago at Reynolds Coliseum.
The junior from Greensburg, Pa., scored a career-best 9.95 for her floor routine, winning first place at the regional and advancing to this weekend’s NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Neb.
Seaman’s knees buckled when she saw the scores revealed and she fell into the arms of NC State coach Mark Stevenson, as she realized her accomplishment.
“It was the perfect moment the best routine I had ever done,” Seaman said. “I just started crying. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad, because of all the emotion from that meet.
“We were disappointed as a team, but I was happy for myself, to have reached this goal of going to the NCAA Championship. It was a wild ride.”
For the team, which just two weeks earlier had won the East Coast Gymnastics League Championship in near-perfect fashion on the same floor, the regional performance was a disappointment. Three falls on the beam doomed the team to a sixth-place finish.
But Seaman’s performance was a bright spot, as she became only the second Wolfpack gymnast in history to win an event at Regionals to advance to the NCAA Championship. Only Leigha Hancock, who qualified on the floor in 2006 and beam in 2008, had ever captured a regional championship before.
Hancock, regarded as one of the best gymnasts in the program’s 29-year history, was an inspiration for Seaman during their two years as teammates.
And Seaman hopes her accomplishment of qualifying for the NCAAs will similarly inspire her younger teammates. The Wolfpack, despite winning the conference championship, was at its core an extremely young team, relying on a handful of freshmen and only one senior in the regular lineup.
Seaman, now in her third year as a consistent performer in the lineup, had to step forward as a leader for the first time in her career. And what better way to lead, than by example?
“I definitely think it helped me to see Leigha do what she did last year and have the experience of going to the NCAAs,” Seaman said. “It made me want it even more. I saw her go through that and it inspired me. I thought it was really cool and I knew I wanted to do it someday.
“I hope me making it to the NCAAs will do the same thing for some of our freshmen. Our team has potential and there are quite a few individuals who have that potential as well. I hope they look at it and say Wow, Taylor gets to do that and now I have something to work for.’”
Seaman spent last weekend’s Easter break on campus, training by herself for the NCAA Championships this weekend. She left Tuesday morning with Stevenson and assistant coach Todd Henry for Nebraska and worked out Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s preliminaries.
“It will be exciting and busy, but I think it will be a lot of fun and a really good experience,” Seaman said. “All the work I have put in to this point feels so worth it now.”
In reality, however, Seaman knows this is the first step of having a successful senior year next season.
“This season was about rebuilding after the loss of four seniors from [the 2008] season,” Seaman said. “Everything that we did was brand new for most of the members of this year’s team. Next year, they will have a better idea of what to expect.
“We all have to realize that we can make it to the NCAA Championships as a team. All of the younger [gymnasts on the team] can get to this point. I hope this gives the freshmen a little bit of fire going into next year, to give them something to work for, so that they won’t just be left with what happened at regionals.”
And, if that happens, Seaman won’t have to make the trip to the biggest meet of her life by herself.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
RALEIGH, N.C. Taylor Seaman put her team disappointment aside, sprinkled a few extra sparkles in her hair and had the best performance of her life in the final rotation of the NCAA Southeast Regional two weeks ago at Reynolds Coliseum.
The junior from Greensburg, Pa., scored a career-best 9.95 for her floor routine, winning first place at the regional and advancing to this weekend’s NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Neb.
Seaman’s knees buckled when she saw the scores revealed and she fell into the arms of NC State coach Mark Stevenson, as she realized her accomplishment.
“It was the perfect moment the best routine I had ever done,” Seaman said. “I just started crying. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad, because of all the emotion from that meet.
“We were disappointed as a team, but I was happy for myself, to have reached this goal of going to the NCAA Championship. It was a wild ride.”
For the team, which just two weeks earlier had won the East Coast Gymnastics League Championship in near-perfect fashion on the same floor, the regional performance was a disappointment. Three falls on the beam doomed the team to a sixth-place finish.
But Seaman’s performance was a bright spot, as she became only the second Wolfpack gymnast in history to win an event at Regionals to advance to the NCAA Championship. Only Leigha Hancock, who qualified on the floor in 2006 and beam in 2008, had ever captured a regional championship before.
Hancock, regarded as one of the best gymnasts in the program’s 29-year history, was an inspiration for Seaman during their two years as teammates.
And Seaman hopes her accomplishment of qualifying for the NCAAs will similarly inspire her younger teammates. The Wolfpack, despite winning the conference championship, was at its core an extremely young team, relying on a handful of freshmen and only one senior in the regular lineup.
Seaman, now in her third year as a consistent performer in the lineup, had to step forward as a leader for the first time in her career. And what better way to lead, than by example?
“I definitely think it helped me to see Leigha do what she did last year and have the experience of going to the NCAAs,” Seaman said. “It made me want it even more. I saw her go through that and it inspired me. I thought it was really cool and I knew I wanted to do it someday.
“I hope me making it to the NCAAs will do the same thing for some of our freshmen. Our team has potential and there are quite a few individuals who have that potential as well. I hope they look at it and say Wow, Taylor gets to do that and now I have something to work for.’”
Seaman spent last weekend’s Easter break on campus, training by herself for the NCAA Championships this weekend. She left Tuesday morning with Stevenson and assistant coach Todd Henry for Nebraska and worked out Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s preliminaries.
“It will be exciting and busy, but I think it will be a lot of fun and a really good experience,” Seaman said. “All the work I have put in to this point feels so worth it now.”
In reality, however, Seaman knows this is the first step of having a successful senior year next season.
“This season was about rebuilding after the loss of four seniors from [the 2008] season,” Seaman said. “Everything that we did was brand new for most of the members of this year’s team. Next year, they will have a better idea of what to expect.
“We all have to realize that we can make it to the NCAA Championships as a team. All of the younger [gymnasts on the team] can get to this point. I hope this gives the freshmen a little bit of fire going into next year, to give them something to work for, so that they won’t just be left with what happened at regionals.”
And, if that happens, Seaman won’t have to make the trip to the biggest meet of her life by herself.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
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