Jacobs' Swails picks UW-LaCrosse

Jacobs High School senior and Algonquin resident, Jenna Swails has committed to the gymnastics program at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

A gymnast since the first grade, Swails joins a roster which currently holds the defending NCAA Division III championship title for gymnastics. She will enter the program this fall to compete as an all-around athlete in vault, bars, beam and floor exercise.

With considerations toward the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Winona State University and Rhode Island College, a trip to the facilities at LaCrosse and an opportunity to meet with head coach Barbara Gibson as well as potential future teammates was all it took for Swails.

"The coach was extremely nice," said Swails. "She runs a great program, and she really made it a place that I wanted to be," said Swails.

Gibson, who was named the 2008 NCGA Co-Coach of the Year along with Jeff Schepers of Ursinus College (Pa.), has led UW-L to all 12 of its national titles in her 23 seasons. She has also guided the Eagles to 16 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships.

LaCrosse captured its 12th NCGA Championship March 28 at SUNY-Cortland. The Eagles finished with a team score of 189.050. It is UW-L's seventh national title in the last eight years and ninth in the last 12 seasons. The Eagles' 12 overall national crowns are the most in NCGA history.

"I got to stay in the dorms with some of the girls," Swails said. "They were very friendly and welcoming.

"I have stayed in contact with several of them. They are great girls."

Because Jacobs High School does not have a gymnastics program, Swails has been competing with Crystal Lake Gymnastics at the highest level as a level 10 gymnast.

She recently competed in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Program and did extremely well in both vault and floor events.

"The vault and floor are my favorite two events so it is great when I do well in both," she said.

Swails studied under CLGTC owner Lee Bataglia as well as former Olympic Gold Medalist from the 1988 Soviet Gymnastics team, Vladimir Gogolazda.

"The program at LaCrosse is more structured compared to what I'm used to," said Swails. "It is also more of a team sport in college which I love."

On campus, which Swails described as beautiful, she will study Business with Computer Science.

"There is a lot to do in the area," she said. "It is a smaller school, but not too small.