The members of the Virginia women's gymnastics team may be small and incredibly athletic, but if you happen to be enjoying a pleasant dinner out, and a group of them sit down at a table near you, be prepared for a little surprise.
"Always at the end of the competitions we go out and have a big meal," senior Christine Diffell said. "One time at Notre Dame we were competing for basically 12 hours and we ordered probably the largest meal the server had ever given us.They thought that we were all these little gymnasts going in and we would just order a little thing ... they had to call in extra people to serve us."
Surprising waiters and waitresses isn't the only strength of this year's team. They also just happen to do a pretty good job beating their competition.
After placing 15th at the NAIGC (National Association of the Independent Gymnastics Clubs) National tournament in 2003, this season's club scored higher than all but two of the 41 teams in this year's competition. The team sent 10 members -- seniors Diffell, Jenny Winger, Erin McKoon and Christine O'Connor, juniors Shelly Vogan and Ellen McRae, sophomores Katie Larsen, Karen Oliver and Kara Parsons and freshman Molly O'Donnell -- to the event and finished with 139.8 points, behind runner-up Penn State and champion University of Vermont.
The impressive finish was truly a team effort, as scores are given based on the team's top four finishers in each event.
"We might not have been the top score every time," Winger said. "But having four consistent scorers every event really just combined to make things different this year."
The great team effort was highlighted by a few strong individual performances. With the top 20 finishers in each event qualifying, three Virginia competitors were able to earn a place in the event finals. Vogan qualified in the balance beam with a 9.1 and took ninth overall on the bars with an 8.85. Diffell qualified in both the vault with a 9.35 and the floor with a 9.1. She finished sixth in vault with a 9.325. Winger also qualified for the vault with a 9.45 and was able to finish fourth overall with a 9.4 and take ninth place out of 400 girls in the All-Around competition.
This was also the first season Virginia fielded a men's team. Sophomore Blake Atwood qualified on floor with a 9.25 and Junior Neil Losin was the only other men's competitor.
This season, the Cavaliers also have traveled to JMU, Notre Dame, UC-Berkley, UPenn and Cornell before heading to Eastern Michigan University for nationals.
"Berkley was exciting because we raised enough to go and compete in California," Vogel said. "We are not a varsity team and we don't have people organizing stuff for us so it's really the dedication of the officers to get everything organized and the commitment of the members."
This sort of travel and competition would not have been possible a few years ago when the team would only participate in a meet or two and did not compete in nationals. Team members have attributed this drastic turnaround to a renewed sense of dedication.
"It's easy enough to say we don't have enough money, it's too far for us to drive," Diffell said. "But I feel like our team, all the members are committed and really willing to drive 12 hours to Notre Dame to compete for just one day and they are willing to come to practice eight hours a week."
The transition of this club from non-competitive to third in the nation after two short years is remarkable. When asked to comment about the future of the team, Vogan said "It's hard to beat third." But it's a solid bet that this committed group of girls is sure going to give it their best shot.
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