Hall of Fame Focus Feature Story
One of the most accomplished and decorated gymnasts in Rutgers history, Alexis Gunzelman's storied career from a walk-on to the only all-around national qualifier in program history spanned from 2011-14. Gunzelman registered nine All-EAGL selections, four EAGL All-Academic Team honors, three Team MVP awards and three NCAA Regional appearances.
Gunzelman holds numerous records for the program to this day. Competing in 51 career meets, she earned nine All-EAGL selections, as well as seven first-team honors, which both mark the most for a Scarlet Knight.
The Tabernacle, New Jersey, native holds the NCAA-meet records for RU on uneven bars (9.825) and all-around (39.175). Her career-high all-around mark of 39.400 stands second in program history. Her score of 39.175 at NCAA Regionals, which tied for second among the 14 competitors to send her to Nationals, is tied for the highest all-around score by a Rutgers gymnast at the NCAA level.
Gunzelman cemented her legacy in 2014 as one of only two Scarlet Knights to qualify for NCAA Nationals and the only to make it as an all-arounder. She joined Courtney Turner (floor exercise, 2002), a 2014 inductee to the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame, as the only other Scarlet Knight to reach the highest stage.
Scoring a 39 or better in all-around a school-record 13 times, Gunzelman lifted the Scarlet Knights' EAGL Championships score each season, capped by a team berth to NCAA Regionals as a senior in 2014. That season also saw Rutgers reach its highest-ever national ranking at No. 16, knocking off three ranked teams along the way and culminated in the squad's first regionals appearance since 2007.
The two-time captain's leadership carried into the classroom, where she earned four EAGL All-Academic Team and two NACGC/W Scholastic All-America honors. The exercise science major completed a secondary accelerated degree following her Rutgers graduation and is now a Cardiac ICU nurse at Penn.
