Gymnastics Signs Two During Early Signing Period
11/21/2016 1:55:00 PM | Gymnastics
KENT, Ohio — Kent State head coach Brice Biggin announced addition of two student-athletes — Abby Fletcher (Greenwood, Indiana) and Nasha Manitkul-Davis (Oradell, New Jersey) — to the gymnastics program during the fall early signing period in November.
Fletcher attends River Dell Regional High School and trains at Eastern National Academy of Gymnastics for coaches Craig Zappa and Jennifer Crescente-Zappa. She was a 2016 Junior Olympic National Championships qualifier and was all-around at the Region 7 Championships, where she also took third place on the vault. Fletcher has also earned victories in 2016 for floor exercise at the Fantasia Classic and both vault and balance beam at the Scarlet Knight Invitational.
"Abby comes to us from a great club at ENA Paramus in New Jersey," Biggin said. "She is a great mix of power and gracefulness that we see contributing to our program for four years. Her strengths are vault, balance beam, and floor exercise and she's got a great skill level that will add difficulty, and can produce big scores, on all three of those events. We're excited for Abby to begin her career as a Golden Flash."
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Manitkul-Davis attends Whiteland Community High School and competes at Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center (JPAC), which is the same club where current freshman Darby Stanton competed. Coached by Dave Marus and Jaycie Phelps, she was a 2016 Junior Olympic National Championships qualifier and was the all-around runner-up at the Region 5 Championships. Additionally, Manitkul-Davis won both the all-around and floor exercise at the 2016 Champions Derby Classic while taking second place in the all-around at the 2016 Buckeye Classic.
"Nasha is a great example of the type of athlete we look for in our recruiting process," Biggin said. "She's got potential to contribute as an all-around gymnast in our program, and we think she's got a bright future in the blue and gold!. She also comes from a great program at JPAC in Indiana, so we know she'll be prepared for competition at the NCAA level. We expect Nasha to compete for lineup spots on day one."
Fans will be able to catch a glimpse of the 2017 Kent State quad on Friday, December 9 when the Golden Flashes travel to Pittsburgh for the Blue and Gold meet. The regular season beings with a quad meet at Ohio State that also includes Michigan and Washington on Saturday, January 14, while the home opener at the M.A.C. Center is set for Friday, January 20 against Western Michigan.
Players Mentioned
