Charles qualifies for NCGA Championships on vault

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Freshman Emma Charles has been named an official qualifier for the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) National Championships taking place March 23 on the campus of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.

The first national qualifier in Simpson women's gymnastics history, Charles earned an at-large bid to compete against 19 others on vault. She qualified with a *Season Average Score (SAS) of 9.693, which was tied for 13th in the nation.

Throughout the course of her freshman season, Charles has won three vault and two beam titles. She won one of each in just her second collegiate meet, while also tying the program record on bars and beam. Charles captured a second vault title one meet later with a season-high score of 9.750, which also tied the program's top mark in the event.

Charles opened the month of February by officially becoming the school record holder on bars (9.225) while capturing a pair of runner-up finishes on vault and beam at the Lindenwood Tri-Meet. After coming back from a brief injury, she garnered her final two event crowns in the Storm's season finale at Winona State.

The NCGA Championships serve as the national meet for 18 Division III women's gymnastics teams. To automatically qualify for one of the four individual events, a gymnast must place in the top five at one of two regional meets. The next four highest SAS from each region also secure a bid to the national meet as well as two additional at-large performers. Simpson was only eligible to earn an at-large bid this season, but will be competing for the regional qualifier spots as part of the west region in 2025.

*An individual's Season Average Score is an average of four scores, with one score coming from an away meet and no more than one coming from a DI/DII meet.