The Meet: Towson at New Hampshire, vs. Yale
When: Sun, Feb. 1 – 1 p.m.
Where: Lundholm Gymnasium – Durham, N.H.
Online Broadcast: AE.tv
 
DURHAM, N.H. – Meet number four will be the first EAGL competition for the Tigers.  The Towson University gymnastics team heads north to take on New Hampshire on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m., also taking on Yale in the tri-meet.
 
The meet will be broadcast on AE.tv.
 
Towson's result against EAGL foe New Hampshire will count in the regular season league standings.  Towson stands at No. 37 in the Road to Nationals (RTN) rankings with a 194.758 average score, with UNH not far behind at No. 40 at 194.642.  Yale, from the Gymnastics East Conference, is at No. 47 at 194.108.
 
Towson's road travels are continuing after a 196.800-195.400 defeat at Arizona on Jan. 23.  New Hampshire and Yale are meeting again in Durham, having competed on Tuesday, Jan. 27 with the Bulldogs edging the Wildcats 194.200-194.150.
 
Since 2009, Towson is 10-14 vs. UNH and 13-0 against Yale.  The Tigers faced UNH last in the 2025 EAGL Championship in Philadelphia on Mar. 22, with the Wildcats having a slight edge 195.700-195.675.  Towson last saw Yale in Washington D.C. on Mar. 16, 2025, a 195-975-193.600 win.
 
This is Towson's first competition of the year which is not a dual meet.  The Tigers are back home next week, hosting LIU on Feb. 7 at 3 p.m.
 
TWO-TIME DEFENDING EAGL REGULAR SEASON CHAMPION….
Towson returns in 2026 as the two-time defending East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) regular season champion, having swept all EAGL regular season meets over the past two seasons for an 8-0 league record.
 
Towson won the EAGL Tournaments in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first league repeat champion since North Carolina in 2010-11.  Towson finished fourth in the 2025 EAGL Tournament in Philadelphia.
 
FOUR-TIME NCAA TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANT FROM 2021-24
Towson earned a spot in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2021-24 as part of the top-36 teams in the national qualifier scores (NQS) each year.
2021 – NCAA Morgantown Regional Second Round
2022 – NCAA Raleigh Regional First Round
2023 – NCAA Pittsburgh Regional First Round
2024 – NCAA Gainesville Regional Second Round
 
Despite the team missing the NCAA Tournament in 2025, Isabella Minervini and Clara Hong qualified as NCAA Tournament competitors in the all-around and beam respectively.
 
BRINGING BACK THE STAFF…….
Three-time EAGL Coach of the Year and four-time WCGA Southeast Region Coach of the Year Jay Ramirez is back for seventh season at the helm of Towson, having led Towson to a pair of league tournament titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances.  His 2024 Towson team's NQS score of 196.935 was the highest in program history, including three 197+ team scores.
 
Ashley LeVine, the 2023 WCGA National Co-Assistant Coach of the Year and three-time WCGA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year, is back for her seventh season.
 
…..AND SEVEN 2025 ALL-EAGL HONOREES
Seven returners to Towson's roster earned a combined 15 All-EAGL selections last season. The returners are headlined by Isabella Minervini, who was a 2025 All-EAGL honoree in all four rotations and all-around, being First Team on all-around, bars and vault, and Ava Harper, the 2025 EAGL Rookie Specialist of the Year and First Team All-EAGL on vault.  Polina Belanovski was  a three-time All-EAGL recipient last year, First Team on vault and Second Team on bars and floor.
 
In addition to the above trio, Isabella DeCroo, Lauren Greene, Adriana Hoffman and Celia Trotter all were All-EAGL in 2025.
 
TOWSON PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN EAGL IN 2026
Towson, the two-time reigning EAGL regular season champion, was predicted to finish second in the league in the EAGL preseason coaches poll.  Towson is coming off a perfect 4-0 EAGL campaign last year.  Reigning EAGL Championship winner George Washington is predicting to finish first.
2026 EAGL Predicted Order of Finish (first-place votes)
1. George Washington (2), 22
2. Towson (1), 18
3. New Hampshire (1), 14
4. Temple (1), 13
5. LIU, 8
 
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The Towson roster has representatives from 11 different states.  The Tigers connect most of the East Coast, going as far north as Massachusetts and down to Florida, also having student-athletes from Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.  In addition, sophomore Brissa Portillo is from Lima, Peru.  Towson has also had two Canadians in the last decade of competition.
 
NEARING PERFECTION
Among Towson's returners include several athletes who have notched a 9.9+ score on a rotation.
Highest Scores (Date)
Polina Belanovski – Vault (9.925, 2/26/23), Floor (9.900, 1/9/26)
Carmella Calafati – Floor (9.950, 2/23/24)
Isabella DeCroo - Vault (9.925, 3/4/25)
Adriana Hoffman - Floor (9.900, 2/21/25)
Isabella Minervini – Bars (9.975, 2/16/24), Beam (9.900, 1/23/26), Floor (9.900, 2/1/23)
Brissa Portillo – Bars (9.900, 2/16/24)
Celia Trotter - Beam (9.00, 1/23/26)
 
1,000-POINT CLUB
Towson brings a lot of experience to the 2026 team, including Isabella Minervini, who surpassed the career 1,000-point mark on March 16, 2025.  Several other Tigers are approaching the career 1,000-point mark.
 
Career Points
Isabella Minervini (Sr.): 1,209.625
Polina Belanovski (Sr.): 749.550
Isabella DeCroo (Gr.): 684.175
---Illinois State (2022-24): 392.100
---Towson (2025-26): 292.075
 
TOWSON VS. NEW HAMPSHIRE BY THE NUMBERS (since 2009)
--Series Record: 10-14                       Last Meeting: Mar. 22, 2025 - Philadelphia, Pa.
--Home Record: 3-5                            Towson 195.675
--Away Record: 2-5                            New Hampshire 195.700
--Neutral Record: 5-4
 
TOWSON VS. YALE BY THE NUMBERS (since 2009)
--Series Record: 13-0                         Last Meeting: Mar. 16, 2025 - Washington, D.C.
--Home Record: 4-0                            Towson 195.975
--Away Record: 1-0                            Yale 193.600
--Neutral Record: 8-0                                    
 
TROTTER EARNS EAGL SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK
Trotter's first-place finish on the balance beam on Jan. 9 vs. West Chester earned her EAGL Specialist of the Week recognition.  The senior earned a 9.850, her highest score on the beam since Jan. 17, 2025.  It was her first victory on the beam since Feb. 21, 2025.
 
TOP-10 PERFORMANCES IN HISTORY
Towson's gymnasts earned scores in 2025 that currently stand in the top-10 all-time in program history.
Polina Belanovski
--Floor: 9.900, t-9th all-time (Jan. 9, 2026)
Isabella DeCroo
--Vault: 9.925, t-6th all-time (Mar. 4, 2025)
Adriana Hoffman
--Floor: 9.900, t-9th all-time (Feb. 21, 2025)
Isabella Minervini
--All-Around: 39.450, 4th all-time (Jan. 23, 2025)
--Bars: 9.925, t-9th all-time (Feb. 16, 2025)
--Beam: 9.900, t-10th all-time (Jan. 23, 2025)
Celia Trotter
--Beam: 9.900, t-10th all-time (Jan. 23, 2025)
 
AN ALL-AROUND COMPETITOR EMERGES
Isabella Minervini served as Towson's all-around competitor in 10 meets in 2025, earning six first place and two second place finishes.   This includes a 39.425 score to be the EAGL all-around champion, 4th all-time in Towson history Before Minervini, Towson's last all-around competitor was in 2022.  In the first three meets, she has finished first in the all-around each time.
 
Polina Belanovski also is an all-around competitor this season, finishing top-3 in the first three meets.
 
WILLACY ENTERS TOWSON ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
Decelia Willacy '08 was inducted into the Towson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025.  At time of induction, she was third on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,865 points.  The 2008 ECAC Gymnast of the Year was an All-ECAC honoree in all events, including all-around, and helped the Tigers win the 2007 USA Gymnastics National Championship and four ECAC titles.  Willacy is the 19th gymnast to be inducted into the Towson Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
STUDENT-ATHLETES
Towson had one of the top years in the classroom in the nation in 2024-25, earning the 11th-highest grade point average in the country at 3.76. 
 
In addition, 20 of the team's 24 student-athletes were honored as WCGA Scholastic All-Americans, having a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA.  It is the second-straight year with at least 20 Towson gymnasts earned WCGA Scholastic status in the same season.
 
Isabella Minervini, one of the 20 WCGA Scholastic All-Americans, also was a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® At-Large Team honoree for the second straight year.  It her second-straight selection, being qualified with a 3.5 GPA or higher and ranking top-75 nationally in an event.
 
DAN O'CONNELL (1953-2026)
Dan O'Connell, who worked in the Towson media relations office for 35 years from 1979-2014, passed away in January 2026.  He was the longtime SID for Towson gymnastics among other sports at Towson plus worked with statistics in the NFL, CFL, MLB and several colleges in the area.  He was a Towson Athletics Hall of Fame inductee in 2021.