Croop leads Pitt, earns league honors

Every day when Pitt senior Alix Croop opens her locker, she sees a list of personal goals…. Every day when Pitt senior Alix Croop opens her locker, she sees a list of personal goals. Later, during practice, she sees them on the wall again.

After this week, she’s one step closer to reaching those goals.

A captain of the Pitt gymnastics team, Croop was honored by the Eastern Atlantic Gymnastic League as the week’s best specialist for her performances against Rutgers and Yale. It was the first time in her career that Croop earned honors from the league.

Since a major goal of Croop’s is to be a first-team all-league performer, the honors from the league means she’s certainly heading in the right direction.

‘It’s great to be recognized [because] I feel like in order to get the award you have to have a great performance,’ said Croop.

And her performance over the weekend not only earned her honors, but helped Pitt (5-3) to a first-place finish in a competition against Yale and Rutgers. She earned first place on the uneven bars and the beam, while collecting fourth place on the floor event.

Croop said that the biggest change for her this year has been experience, as she’s comfortable in almost any situation.

‘I think that being a senior and having the experience now, it’s really given me confidence,’ she said. ‘My first two years, I really only [competed] on the bar.’

And all personal goals aside, her performances as of late have helped Pitt realize what it can do as a team.

After coming out on top of two straight competitions, she said the team as a whole is coming together.

‘I think the team is finally starting to see our potential,’ she said. ‘We’ve been working really hard to meet our goals this year.’

Pitt will face Maryland on Friday night at the Fitzgerald Field House.