On Wednesday, the NCGA announced that Brockport gymnast Kiara Hockman earned the NCGA East Specialist of the Week honor for her performance in Brockport’s meet versus Ithaca this past weekend. She competed in three events for the Golden Eagles as they defeated the Ithaca Bombers 187.625-186.550 in the season opener.
Hockman was the event winner with her routine in the floor exercise, posting a score of 9.850. She also earned a score of 9.700 on the beam and a team-best mark of 9.475 on the vault.
“I’m very grateful,” Hockman said. “I’m just grateful to be a part of this team and help contribute to the team as a whole. In college, we are all working together for a team score and I am just grateful to get the opportunity to go out there and put up scores for my team.”
Hockman is starting her sophomore season with the program.
“At the beginning of last season, I learned to take things one step at a time,” Hockman said. “It’s a long season. We start in January and we compete every weekend until March. We just have to take things one step at a time and not get too overwhelmed. Wherever you start at the beginning of the season, allow yourself to continue to grow and get better with your routine as you move and progress throughout the season.”
As the season progresses, Hockman is most looking forward to seeing how much the team grows and is excited about what the team has to offer.
“I think this team has so much talent,” Hockman said. “I’m really excited to see how we grow. We did amazing things in our first meet, but we have so much more to give and I think we are going to accomplish a lot of amazing things. I am excited to see where this team goes and how much we can accomplish in the next couple of weeks leading up to nationals.”
With another meet coming up on Saturday, Hockman knows the team needs to stay focused to perform well.
“We just have to stay within the moment and focus on having fun,” Hockman said. “We do our best when we are doing what we do in practice every day. We have a very talented team and everyone contributes in amazing ways. We just have to go out there and stay loose and in the moment.”
The Golden Eagles are currently 1-0 on the season and will host the Cortland Red Dragons on Saturday at 2 p.m.
