Springfield, Mass. – March 2, 2018 – The National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) is excited to highlight the fourth of seven former student-athletes to be inducted into the NCGA Hall of Fame in 2018, Sulekha Modi Zaug, 2000 graduate of SUNY Cortland.
Modi Zaug ’01 joins six other inductees including Gina Gutierrez ’02 of Springfield College, Bartyzel Consolati ’96, Sandra Picciocio Givas ’87 and Cynthia Chiolo Walsh ’87 of Ithaca, Sonja Ellefson of MIT and Jumaah Johnson Goldberg ’02 of Ursinus.
Modi Zaug ’00 M’02 was a three-time national champion on the uneven bars, as she finished as the nation’s top gymnast in the event as a freshman in 1997, as a sophomore in 1998 and as a senior in 2000. As a junior in 1999, Modi Zaug ’00 M’02 was the national runner-up, as she also was the ECAC Uneven Bar Champion in 1997 and 1999. As a senior in 2000, Modi Zaug ’00 M’02 was named team captain, was nominated for the NCGA Outstanding Senior Gymnast Award, was named to the NCGA All-Academic Team and set the new program record on the uneven bars.
“My college experience in gymnastics allowed me the opportunity to continue with a sport that not only did I love but was essentially my identity for most of my life. I could continue with the thrills of competition and the feeling of adrenaline running though my blood but all with a new goal – for the first time successfully competing not only for myself but for my team. Living together, eating together, socializing together, practicing together, those are the memories that I cherish from college gymnastics. We learned that their was something bigger than just ourselves out there, in a world where we were brought up to succeed individually, college gymnastics was something bigger – the team.”– Sulekha Modi Zaug ’00 M’02