As the Pioneers gymnastics season comes to a close, senior Sasha Sullivan will travel to the NCAA national championship in Athens, Ga., a mere 500 miles away from her home in Glen Allen, Va., for the last meet of her career.
“It has been such a blessing to be able to go back to the East Coast for my last two competitions where a lot of my family can come visit and watch and support me,” Sullivan said. “Words cannot even describe how cool it is to be finishing up like this.”
Sullivan and the Pioneer gymnastics team head to Athens, Ga., this weekend.
“Sasha has so much to be proud of in her effort alone.,” said Head Coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart. “She trains day after day with a perfectionist attitude. She has been involved in everything, and we are so very proud to see her hard work and dedication pay off.”
Sullivan and the Pioneer gymnastics team head to Athens, Ga., this weekend.
“Making nationals two years in a row is a big accomplishment,” Sullivan said. “Especially because this is the third time in school history we’ve gone to nationals and we’re more of the underdog team, but I definitely think we can go out there and do some good gymnastics.”
Sullivan has a lot of expectations for her last career meet.
“It’s my last meet ever and I just want to have a great time,” Sullivan said. “I want us as a team to do the best gymnastics that we’re capable of doing you know just no holding back, going aggressive and letting the cards fall where they may.”
The NCAA tournament is a great ending not only for Sullivan’s career, but also for seniors Sierra Bertholomey, Courtney Butler, and Paige Schuster, the other graduating Pioneers.
“It’s a perfect way to end everything,” Sullivan said. “It’s really been a big growing experience for me and I’ve learned a lot. I think being a Division I athlete. It is definitely like a full-time job, but I’ve gained so much from the experience and I couldn’t even imagine being a student, and just a student. Athletics has really enriched my time at DU.”
“I got a new vault this year, my senior year, and a release move on bars, which is a pretty hard thing to do as a gymnast,” Sullivan said. “Most people take a couple years to get used to a release move on bars I’ve definitely increased my difficulty and you can definitely see the progression. I am a stronger gymnast now than when I came in.”
“There are no words that can describe how much Sasha has meant to the program,” Kutcher-Rinehard said. “She has just been an incredible student athlete in every sense of the word. I’ve watched her grow and mature as a person, and as a coach, and that’s what you hope for, that your athletes grow academically and athletically and that they grow with character and integrity. She is all of that. I could not be any more proud of the job she has done.”
Sullivan was offered a full time position at consulting company following graduation.
“Last summer had an internship at a consulting company called Accenture,” Sullivan said. “It was hard because it was from 9 to 5 and then I had to practice afterward, but it was a good internship and they offered me a full-time position starting in the fall.”
The No. 12 Pioneers will compete in Session II of the NCAA national championship in Athens, Ga. on Thursday at 5 p.m. MDT against powerhouses Georgia, Stanford, Utah, Michigan and UCLA.
