Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Megan Benzie signed her letter of intent last month. Also pictured are two of her coaches: (from left) Cheryl Johnson and Devonta Brown.
A gymnast from Virginia Techniques in Christiansburg has signed a national letter of intent to continue her career at Eastern Michigan University. Megan Benzie announced her attention last month.
“After watching a practice for just five minutes, I knew this was where I wanted it be. The atmosphere in the gym is just like home, the feeling of campus is awesome, and Ypsilanti (Michigan) in general is just a fun place to be. I fell in love with the gymnastics program and the upward direction they are heading. No other school really mattered anymore,” she said.
Benzie started participating in gymnastics when she was three years old and started training at Virginia Techniques a year ago.
“I was at a different gym for most of my career, but switching to Techniques was the best thing I ever did. My gymnastics has improved so much, but more than that this team has become my family and I love gymnastics again. My coaches are incredible and I couldn’t be happier here,” she said.
Benzie plans to major in Exercise Science with the hopes of becoming a physical therapist. “As a freshman (in high school), I tore my ACL and had to go through the long PT (physical therapy) process. But I had an amazing therapist who helped get me back on the competition floor. I want to be able to have that kind of impact on other people and athletes,” she said.
Benzie is a Level 10 2017 state floor champion and also finished third on the beam. She is a 5-time regional qualifier and 10-time state qualifier. In addition, she had five top five finishes in competitions during her senior year and is a 7-time state champion.
Her long term goal is to contribute in the Eastern Michigan program.
“Only top six athletes compete on each event in college, so I want to break into as many lineups as I can and help out the team as much as possible. But at the same time, my goal since I was seven was to compete in college gymnastics. I’ve now reached my big long term goal, so I am looking to enjoy these next four years and take it all in.”
She will join an incoming freshman class of seven gymnasts to a team that is looking for a new coach. Last week, Eastern Michigan University Interim Director of Athletics Christian Spears announced, that Head Women’s Gymnastics Coach Sarah Brown has accepted the same position at Penn State University.
Brown’s lone season at the helm saw the Eagles capture the Mid-American Conference regular season championship for the first in program history after going 11-4 overall and 5-1 within the MAC. For the second consecutive season, the Eagles also finished atop the podium at the MAC Championships, claiming the program’s third ever conference title. Based on EMU’s performance throughout the season, the Eagles earned the team’s second ever NCAA Regionals berth.
There, EMU tallied six top-10 individual finishes, including a third-place finish on bars.
The search has begun for the program’s fifth full-time head coach.
Megan is the daughter of Kim and Mark Benzie and has maintained a 4.08 grade point average.