Gymnastics: DeCavitch, Franz, Guns selected to represent team in regionals

Yasmeen Matthews

Kent State gymnast Rachel Decavitch winning in the all-category with a score of 39.425 on Feb. 19, 2023

Michael Neenan, Reporter

Three gymnasts of the Kent State gymnastics team were selected to represent the Flashes in the Norman Regional in Oklahoma as part of the 2023 Women’s National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships.

KSU gymnasts senior Rachel DeCavitch, senior Karlie Franz and sophomore Alyssa Guns were selected to regionals.

1/29 Beauty and the Beast gymnastics meet
Kent State senior Karlie Franz dismounts after her vault routine during the Beauty and the Beast meet on Jan. 29. (Annemarie Karabinus)

The trio, who were each named to the All-Mid-American Conference second team, make their return to Regionals for the second straight year.

The announcement came on Monday following the tournament’s selection show on NCAA.com.

DeCavitch will be participating in the all-around competition after leading the team in total scoring and recording a career-high of 39.450 at the MAC Championships on Saturday. She was  named to the MAC All-Tournament team for her performance. 

During the regular season, DeCavitch ranked third in National Qualifying Score among all-arounders in the MAC with a score of 39.300.

Kent State sophomore Alyssa Guns competes in the beam event during the Gymnastics MAC Tournament March 18, 2023.  (Matthew Brown)

Guns was selected to compete on the floor with an NQS of 9.910 during the season, good for third-best in the MAC.

Franz finished fourth in the MAC in NQS on the floor with 9.905. She will also perform her floor routine at Regionals. Franz posted six-straight scores of 9.900 or more to end the season.

After the MAC Championships, Franz said that the team still has a few more weeks and they are ready for Regionals.

“We’re not done yet,” she said. “ We got a lot more to do.”

DeCavitch, Guns and Franz will compete in session 1 of round 2 at 2 p.m. Thursday.

The NCAA Gymnastics Regionals will be aired on ESPN+.

Michael Neenan is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected]