NEW HAVEN, CONN – Three West Chester Golden Rams were honored following the 2024 Gymnastics East Conference Championships Saturday night inside John J. Lee Amphitheater on the campus of Yale University.
 
Senior Caroline Cascadden (Ashburn, Va.) was selected as the GEC Specialist of the Year while junior Jordan Coleman (Bowie, Md.) took home Performance of the Year for her routine on bars in the opening meet of the season. Finally, Stephanie Stephens was named the GEC Assistant Coach of the Year.
 
Cascadden, one of the captains of the Golden Rams gymnastics squad, is in the midst of her best collegiate season. She is a balance beam and floor exercise specialist, who earned first-team accolades in both events. The Virginian owns a 9.825 National Qualifying Score (NQS) on the beam and a 9.835 NQS on the floor. Cascadden is ranked tied third on beam in the GEC and sixth in the floor exercise. Cascadden tied the school's balance beam record twice this winter with a 9.875, before breaking the record with a 9.9 during her senior meet. Her performance also helped the Golden Rams break their team record on the beam with a 49.15.  
 
Cascadden has been just as impressive on the floor exercise. She finished off the regular season by tying yet another school record – scoring a 9.925 on the floor.  She also helped her team break the school floor exercise record twice this season – first scoring 49.175 then a 49.275 in consecutive weeks. Cascadden was named GEC Specialist of the Week during week 10.  
 
During West Chester's first meet of the season, Jordan Coleman hit the uneven bars routine of her life and broke the school record with a 9.9 in her home state at the University of Maryland. She broke former Golden Ram, Meghan Brannon's school record. Brannon was tragically killed in September, which made Coleman's accomplishment that much more special to the junior and the rest of her teammates and coaching staff.
 
Stephanie Stephens picks up her second conference coaching plaudit, having won the ECAC Assistant Coach of the Year in 2018 when West Chester competed in that conference. She always goes above and beyond for West Chester Gymnastics and head coach Barbara Cordova so that the Golden Rams can be as successful of a program that it can be. In addition to her coaching duties, Stephens leads the team's social media, helps with alumni relations and is a huge help with fundraising. The former WCU gymnast also goes above and beyond forming positive relationships with team members encouraging them in and out of the gym.  
 
Stephens put her love for former teammate Meghan Brannon and WCU Gymnastics together and organized a scholarship in Brannon's name and a Memorial Meet for Meghan. Stephens did an excellent job organizing all of this on top of all her other responsibilities. 
 
Stephens possesses an excellent knowledge of all four events and is invested in making the team better every single day. She is the primary beam coach, and West Chester's beam team is enjoying a great year. The Golden Rams have broken, or tied, an individual beam record five times, along with the team record once. In all, West Chester has set or tied seven records in 2024 – four individual and three team marks.
 
West Chester will now prepare for the USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate Championships April 12-14. That tournament will be held inside Hollinger Field House right on campus.