After traveling through the night from Ithaca to St. Paul, Minn., the South Hill squad entered the gym at Hamline University on March 20. For the 22nd time in 23 seasons, the team was competing at the highest level in the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Championships.

The NCGA Championships take the top eight teams in the country and put them together for one weekend. The best gymnasts in Division III fill one gym and display their highest quality skills.

“There is no other feeling like it,” senior Frances Ente said about the championships. “There is so much talent in one room, and your eyes are always wandering around the gym looking for and watching all of the big skills that people are performing. The high level of performance and skill that is there is just jaw dropping.”

The stands were full of thunderously loud fans ready to cheer on their respective colleges. The Bombers entered the gym coming off a second-place finish March 7 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament. They were primed and ready to compete for the second national title in the gymnastics team’s history. However, that accomplishment would not be easy.

Freshman Jessica Bolduc, one of the top gymnasts in the country on vault, said during her routine, the vault runway kept sliding underneath her feet and caused her to make some last-minute alterations to her routine.

“I was changing my run a lot,” Bolduc said. “I would change my board setting at the last second. I would move back three feet, I would move forward three feet. I was just freaking myself out.”

Despite the conditions, Bolduc managed to finish fourth overall on vault in the team championships.

“I just ultimately felt that I did the best I could to contribute to the team,” she said.

Sophomore Lauren Ferrone also experienced some trouble in her routine on the balance beam and ended up falling off the beam.

Though the Bombers made some minor errors, they finished the competition in fifth place overall with a combined score of 183.6. The Bombers said a third-place finish may have been within their grasp since the third- and fifth-place teams were only separated by  1.200 points.

“We had a few falls and a couple little errors that could have pushed us to third if they hadn’t happened, but you can’t just say, ‘what if?’” Ferrone said.

The team sat down for a two-hour meeting with Head Coach Rick Suddaby after the meet to discuss the season. Instead of focusing on the “what ifs,” the Bombers discussed their success.

“As a whole we did pretty well,” Ferrone said. “We were proud of ourselves. Obviously there were some people who were disappointed with their personal performance. You dwell on that a little bit, but then you think about the team as a whole and how well we did.”

Bolduc said she was happy with her team’s performance especially because they judge differently in the West.

“The scores were really close,” Bolduc said. “I felt like we could have done a little bit better, but I was happy with everyone’s performance because it’s not like they didn’t try hard. I just felt that it was a really hard competition.”

As the team boarded the planes to return to Ithaca, the overall attitude was not disappointment from a fifth-place finish, but rather appreciation for a spectacular season, Bolduc said.

“I was very thankful to be a part of a team that had such an impact on my freshman year,” she said. “It was very satisfying to know that I basically have all of my best friends that I see every single day and I know are there. It’s just a good feeling to know I’m part of a team that cares.”