The Lindenwood University athletics department announced today that Gretchen Goerlitz will take the reigns as the first head coach in history for the Lady Lions gymnastics program. Goerlitz is coming to Lindenwood after two years as the head coach at Centenary College of Louisiana.
“I'm honored to be the first head women's gymnastics coach at Lindenwood University, to be joining the ranks of such an ambitious athletics department, and to be a part of the history of building a new and strong gymnastics program,” said Goerlitz. “I cannot think of a better university to be adding the sport of gymnastics. It is truly a great time to be a part of Lindenwood and specifically the athletic department as it paves new paths down the road of excellence.”
Goerlitz comes to Lindenwood after two years of experience as the head coach at Centenary where she revitalized and continued the building of the program. She played an integral role in the school reaching the USAG Collegiate Nationals as a team in 2011 and in 2010 guided five individual qualifiers to the USAG Collegiate National Championships. In just two years, Goerlitz coached seven gymnasts to All-American honors and numerous athletes to scholastic honors. In 2011, Goerlitz coached Centenary gymnast Jessica Lieblich to an individual All-Around qualification to the NCAA Regional Championships. Under Goerlitz's guidance, her team won the Ladies Cup Award in both the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.
Prior to Centenary, Goerlitz was a graduate assistant coach for two years at Texas Woman's University. While there, she coached the floor exercise, oversaw the team's strength and conditioning program, and monitored the team's academic success. Six athletes earned All-American honors on the floor exercise under Goerlitz's tutelage in her two years at Texas Woman's. Goerlitz coached Amie Boles to a career high score of 9.9 on the floor exercise which is the current school record. In 2008, Goerlitz's floor team set a new school record to help clinch the USAG Collegiate National Championship title. In 2009, Goerlitz coached athletes Amie Boles and Tonya Pipkorn to a Co-Championship title on the floor at the USAG Collegiate National Championships.
Goerlitz competed one season at Utah State University (USU) and qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships as an individual All-Around performer. She holds the third highest score in school history for USU with a 9.95 on the floor exercise. She then transferred to the University of Denver where she was a three letter award winner, a member of the dean's list, and a key part of a Denver team that ranked second in the country for academics, and tenth in the country athletically after qualifying to the NCAA National Championships.
Goerlitz hails from Neenah, Wis. where she was a level 10 gymnast for seven years at Oshkosh Gymnastics Center. She has a skill named after her on the uneven bars.
In 2007 Goerlitz graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis in cognitive neuroscience from Denver and in 2009 earned her master's degree in exercise physiology from Texas Woman's.
Lindenwood is eager to have the expertise of Goerlitz as part of the athletics department to build the foundation of success for the new gymnastics program. Her knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm will prove to be a vital part of the upcoming years of academic and athletic success of the Lady Lions' gymnastics team.
