Bridgeport’s Monica Mesalles
© Bridgeport Athletics

BRIDGEPORT, Conn., April 12, 2012 – University of Bridgeport junior Monica Mesalles Sallares of Barcelona, Spain, won the all-around title with a score of 39.350 at the 2012 USAG Women’s Collegiate National Championships, held at the University of Bridgeport (Conn.). The University of Bridgeport, Texas Woman’s University, the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Air Force Academy advanced to the team finals, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Friday night at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

Texas Woman’s and the Air Force advanced from the Thursday’s first team session by placing first (193.625) and second (192.300), respectively. William & Mary was third (192.250), and Centenary (190.750) was fourth in the first session.

Bridgeport and Penn advanced to the team finals from Thursday’s second session, finishing first (195.525) and second (193.900), respectively. Temple was third in Thursday’s second team session with a score of 191.775, followed by Seattle Pacific at 190.800.

Also, the top five finishers (including ties) in each event from each session advance to Saturday’s event finals, which will be on Bridgeport’s campus.

The top eight finishers in the all-around are as follows.

  1. Monica Mesalles Sallares, University of Bridgeport, 39.350
  2. Dana Bonincontri, University of Pennsylvania, 39.275
  3. Kirsten Strausbaugh, University of Pennsylvania, 38.950
  4. Kristin Milardo, College of William & Mary, 38.825
  5. Jess Pritchard, College of William & Mary, 38.775
  6. Katie Canning, University of Temple, 38.450
  7. Megan Milavec, University of Pennsylvania, and Kaity Watson, Temple University, 38.425

Team finals start at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at the Webster Bank Arena, and the individual event finals back at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Bridgeport has won the team title the last two years, and tied with Cornell in 2009.

Tickets are available online at ticketmaster.com for the team finals, and at www.brownpapertickets.com for the team preliminaries and individual event finals. Tickets will also be available at the venue box office the day of the meet. For more information and directions to the event, please visit http://ubknights.com/sports/wgym/usag.

The USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships is for Division I, II and III schools with less than seven-and-a-half full scholarships.