CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson gymnastics team is thrilled to announce the newest three signees to the 2023 class, including a true freshman and two veteran transfers. With these three additions, Clemson completes its inaugural roster. Season tickets requests are available on ClemsonTigers.com.
“It’s crazy to think that almost a year ago we had no one on the team and now almost a year later we have 19 new Tigers ready and eager to represent Clemson as the newest Power 5 gymnastics team,” said Head Coach Amy Smith. “It has been such a crazy, awesome process, and I am so excited and grateful to our new team and everyone at Clemson that has made this a reality. It’s so cool to see the pieces come together. Get ready, Clemson Family, because here we come!”
• Sierra Church • Lincolnton, N.C. • West Lincoln HS • Everest Gymnastics
• North Carolina Academic Scholar, North Carolina Scholar Athlete, Nike Positive Athlete Award, 2023 USAG National Qualifier Level 10
Smith on Church – “We are so excited to add Sierra to Team 1. This is an absolute dream come true for Sierra, and we are so happy to be a part of it with her. Sierra is an extraordinary student and vibrant person. She will be able to contribute on beam and floor. She is an exquisite beam worker and beautiful and clean on floor. Her movement quality on both events is exemplary.”
• Lauren Rutherford • Roswell, Ga. • NC State • Roswell Gymnastics
• 2023 EAGL All-Tournament First Team: Floor, 2023 EAGL All-Tournament Second Team: Vault/Bars, 2023 All-EAGL Second Team: Floor, 2023 All-EAGL Scholastic Team, 2023 WCGA Academic All-American, 2022 All-EAGL First Team: Bars/Floor/Vault, 2022 EAGL All-Tournament Second Team: Bars, 2022 All-EAGL Scholastic Team 2022, WCGA Academic All-American
Smith on Rutherford – “We are thrilled to have Lauren be a part of our inaugural team. Lauren brings so much to the table, not only her strong gymnastics and competitive experience, but she is an exceptional student and has an engaging personality. She is incredibly strong on vault, bars and floor and will make an immediate impact on those events. Lauren also has a 10.0 start value on vault with a 1.5 that she competed in club that we are looking to get going again, as well as many high difficulty/high value options on floor, which is very exciting. Her bars have been her strongest, most consistent event, and we are looking to her to make a huge impact on our line-up there. I’m also looking forward to working with her on beam and see if she could get in our line-up and be a potential additional all-arounder for us.”
• Kaitlin DeGuzman • Dallas, Texas • University of Kentucky • Metroplex Gymnastics
• Two-time Scholastic All-American, SEC Winter Sports Academic Honor Roll, most recently tied a season and career-high with a 9.925 on bars at NCAA Regionals, won the event three times in her career, has a 9.800 career high in floor and beam
Smith on DeGuzman – “With great enthusiasm, we add our last Tiger of this inaugural team! We can’t wait to have Kaitlin DeGuzman join us in this first year! Kaitlin is a fantastic student and has such a silly, fun personality that we feel will be a great fit for our team.
Kaitlin’s experience of being on the floor at the National Championship will be invaluable to our team, along with the journey she had with her team to get there. We look forward to her leadership on this inaugural team. Her high scoring bar routine and consistency will make her a mainstay in that line-up. I am also excited to bring her into our beam line-up and feel that she is going to be very impactful on that event as well. She is incredibly smooth and fluid on beam with beautiful polish and finesse. Kaitlin has continued to get better as her career has progressed, so we are excited to see her close out her career as a Clemson Tiger and be a part of this history-making team and inaugural season.”
For complete coverage of the Clemson women’s gymnastics team, follow @Clemsongymnastics on Instagram and Facebook and @ClemsonGym on Twitter.
