The University of Alaska Anchorage Athletics Department earlier this month announced its gymnastics program reached a fundraising goal necessary to reinstate the team for the 2021-22 academic year. Subsequently, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Administrative Board officially approved the Seawolves return to the MPSF, resulting in a five-team conference alongside Air Force, Sacramento State, San Jose State, and UC Davis. The 2022 MPSF Women’s Gymnastics Championship meet is tentatively scheduled for March 19 at UC Davis.
“The University of Alaska Anchorage Women’s Gymnastics team has been a longstanding member with the MPSF since our sponsorship of the sport began in 2002,” said Al Beaird, who had been the MPSF’s Executive Director through the first two decades of MPSF Women’s Gymnastics. “The Federation welcomes the Seawolves back with open arms and hope they continue to participate in the MPSF Championships for the NEXT two decades and beyond.”
In August 2020, women's gymnastics was one of four teams which UAA announced would be eliminated from its athletics program. One month later, however, the Board of Regents made a path for these teams to be reinstated if they raised two years of private funding by February 15, 2021 to cover operating expenses. At that time, the board passed a motion to extend the deadline. The goal for reinstatement involving raising private funds and decreasing program expenses was to achieve a $444,000 reduction for 2021-22. As of June 1, the confirmed total towards the year one goal for reinstatement was $445,782.
"I'm beyond proud of my student-athletes and staff who have worked incredibly hard over the last 266 days despite significant adversity, and I want to thank all of our supporters and donors, as this wouldn't have been possible without them," said UAA Gymnastics Head Coach
Marie-Sophie Boggasch. "Nevertheless, we would like to express the urgency of continuing to donate to ensure our existence beyond next season." While meeting fundraising goals for 2021-22 was a remarkable achievement, it will be crucial for these efforts to continue in order for the UAA Gymnastics team to ensure long-term sustainability. Boggasch noted the team has already secured about one-third of the donations to meet next year's June 30, 2022 deadline.
Alaska-Anchorage has achieved several program milestones in recent years. In the most recent MPSF Championship meet in 2019, the Seawolves compiled a school record total score of 194.200, in addition to a balance beam team record of 49.075. The Seawolves have several MPSF Team titles in their history, winning the 2009 conference meet in addition to three-straight conference academic titles from 2016-18. Individually, recent alum Sophia Hyderally won two of the last three MPSF titles on the balance beam. To this day, her 9.925 conference championship mark in 2017 still matches the all-time MPSF record. In 2018, Isabelle Fox became the program’s first-ever MPSF Freshman of the Year. In 2019, when then-head coach Tanya Ho was named MPSF Coach of the Year, she became the first person in MPSF history, all-sports combined, to earn three different major end-of-the-year honors in a career as head coach, assistant coach, and athlete of the year.