Gymnastics
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- mfcgym@gwu.edu
- Phone:
- 202-994-5718
- Two-Time NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year (2015, 2016)
- Two-time NCAA Southern Region Coach of the Year (1991 & 1992)
- Four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1988, 1998, 1999 & 2001)
- Four-time EAGL Coach of the Year (2011, 2016, 2017, 2018)
- 15 NCAA Regional Appearances
Margie Foster-Cunningham begins her 39th year at George Washington in 2023-24. As the longest tenured head coach at GW, Foster-Cunningham leads GW into its 20th season as a member of the competitive East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL).
In GW's 19 seasons in the EAGL, Foster-Cunningham has helped 57 gymnasts receive 157 All-Conference honors. 20 of those gymnasts went on to qualify for NCAA Regional competition. Additionally, 93 of her gymnasts have combined for 190 Academic All-EAGL certificates.
In 2023, Foster-Cunningham coached graduate student and EAGL Senior Gymnast of the Year, Deja Chambliss, as well as a pair of NCAA Regioal Qualifiers with Chambliss in the all-around and Kendall Whitman on floor. She also coached Chambliss and Sarah Zois to a pair of event titles on vault at the 2023 EAGL Championship. Chambliss was also named co-champion on floor with a 9.900.
In 2022, she coached EAGL Gymnast of the Year, Chambliss, as well as a pair of NCAA Regional Qualifiers with Chambliss in the all-around and Whitman on floor. She also helped Chambliss to a pair of event titles (vault and floor) at the 2022 EAGL Championship before the team clinched the program's third all-time EAGL crown.
In 2021, the team competed four times during the regular season and took home fourth at the EAGL Championship with their season=best 195.800. At the championship, first-year Whitman placed first overall with her 9.900 routine on floor. Whitman posted a career-best 9.950 on the event in her Buff and Blue debut in February.
Deja Chambliss advanced to NCAA Regionals as an individual on vault. Chambliss competed on the event three times throughout the season and scored a pair of 9.875s and tied her career-high of 9.900.
In the abbreviated 2020 season, the team finished ranked 36th in the country with their 195.420 NQS, 194.850 average and 195.900 high score. The Buff and Blue hit their stride before the season came to its unexpected close, topping the five-team field on Senior Day with a 195.825. This would be their fourth-straight score above the 195.000 mark. 13 of the decorated group went on to be named Women’s College Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Scholastic All-Americans.
The Buff and Blue capped 2019 by returning to the national stage for the fifth consecutive year, and 15th time in program history, to compete at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. GW finished second in the EAGL Championship with a score of 195.825. Alexandra Zois clinched the Individual Record for All-Around with a score of 39.400.
In 2018, GW competed at the NCAA Raleigh Regional. Along with their regionals appearance, the Buff and Blue hit new milestones, broke program records, and boasted top ranks in both the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) and NCAA. As a team, the Colonials tied their program-best score of 196.875 and improved their record in the Charles E. Smith Center to 40-1 dating back to the 2015 season. Cami Drouin-Allaire also made program history by making her third trip to the NCAA Championship (all-around) after being named EAGL Gymnast and Senior of the Year. Under Foster-Cunningham's guidance, Drouin-Allare also received Second Team All-America recognition on vault and was named an American Athletic, Inc. (AAI) Award finalist, which recognizes the most outstanding female gymnast in the country.
GW continued to make history in the 2017 season as the team captured its second EAGL Championship in three seasons and advanced to NCAA Regionals for the third consecutive season. Cami Drouin-Allaire became the first gymnast in program history to win the EAGL all-around title in addition to her second-career EAGL vault title. Drouin-Allaire (all-around) and Chelsea Raineri (vault) also qualified as individual competitors to the NCAA Championship, the first time GW has ever had multiple qualifiers in the same season and the first time a gymnast (Drouin-Allaire) has made a return trip. Other firsts during the 2017 include Jillian Winstanley winning the EAGL Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award and GW once again setting a new postseason scoring record with a 195.625 at the NCAA Morgantown Regional.
GW returned to NCAA Regionals for the second straight season and 13th time in program history in 2016 after competing at the NCAA Athens Regional, where the team posted a then-program record score of 195.55 to place fifth overall.
For the first time in program history, a GW gymnast took home the EAGL Gymnast of the Year Award in 2016 when Cami Drouin-Allaire earned the conference's top honor at the conclusion of the season. The Colonials also boasted a pair of event champions at the 2016 EAGL Championship in sophomores Jillian Winstanley (vault) and Alex Zois (co-champion, uneven bars).
Foster-Cunningham led the Buff and Blue to their most successful season in program history in 2015. GW won its first-ever EAGL Championship, set three new program records for overall team score (196.875), vault (49.50) and floor exercise (49.45), finished with a 22-3-1 record and qualfiied for NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2002. Additionally, freshman Cami Drouin-Allaire became the program's first-ever All-American when she earned Second Team Vault honors from the the National Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Association (NACGC/W). Drouin-Allaire also became just the second student-athlete in program history to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
Also in 2015, GW captured their first-ever outright individual event championships since joining the EAGL. Freshman Jillian Winstanley, the 2015 EAGL Rookie of the Year, captured the uneven bars title at the EAGL Championship with a score of 9.875 while Drouin-Allaire earned the vault championship with a school-record tying 9.95, the third time in 2015 that she achieved that score. Additionally, freshman Sara Mermelstein was the co-champion on floor exercise (9.85).
At the NCAA Auburn Regional, GW had four podium appearances across four events and the all-around, the most by a single team in GW's NCAA Regionals history.
GW made history during the 2014 season, setting new program records on both vault (49.225) and uneven bars (49.20). Additionally, freshman Chelsea Raineri became the first GW Gymnast to earn a major end-of-season award in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League when she was named Rookie of the Year. Raineri is also the first Colonial gymnast to win an EAGL Championship after being named Co-Champion on vault at the championship meet.
Prior to joining the EAGL, Foster-Cunningham experienced tremendous success with the Colonials in the Atlantic 10 Conference as she led GW to five consecutive league titles in the final five years of the A-10, and was voted Coach of the Year four times for her accomplishments. She also had the privilege to coach three A-10 Most Outstanding Performers and three Most Outstanding Rookie Performers.
After graduating from Penn State in 1982, Foster-Cunningham remained in University Park to work toward her master's degree in health and physical education at the Motor Learning/Motor Control Sports Research Institute. The A-10 Coach of the Year in 1988, 1998, 1999 and 2001, Foster-Cunningham's impact has been felt most in the Colonials' record book, having coached every gymnast in GW's Top 10 for each event.
As an athlete, Foster-Cunningham was a five-time All-American at Penn State and led the Nittany Lions to a national championship in 1980. That year she was a finalist for the prestigious Broderick Award, given to the most outstanding collegiate gymnast.
The Gloversville, NY, native represented the United States at the 1979 World University Games and helped the U.S. place third, its highest finish in the history of the Games at the time.
The former Nittany Lion served a two-year team as the NCAA Southeast Regional Chair and six years as the Vice President of the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Coaches (NAWGC). Foster-Cunningham is currently in her fourth year as the Chair of the Ethics Committee for Gymnastics, after serving on the committee for four years.
A former board member on the NACGC for eight years, Foster-Cunningham also owns the Chantilly Academy of Gymnastics in Northern Virginia. She resides in Ashburn, VA, with her husband Jerry, and their three children: Jeremiah, Jessie and Connor. Jeremiah graduated from St. Lawrence University, continued his career playing professional ice hockey in France for two years and is now in Law School at Villanova University. Jessie graduated from East Carolina University where she was a member of the Women's Soccer Team and Connor is a graduate of St. Lawrence University where he played ice hockey.
