ANCHORAGE – Alaska Anchorage athletic director Greg Myford announced Friday that Marie-Sophie Boggasch has been named interim head coach for the Seawolves' gymnastics program.

An assistant coach the past two seasons, Boggasch has been instrumental in helping the Seawolves raise their level of performance, setting 21 school records in her time on the staff. Boggasch has been the primary coach on balance beam as well, overseeing the development of 2019 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion Sophia Hyderally, along with significant improvement from several other Seawolf gymnasts on that apparatus.
 
"Marie-Sophie provides a number of valued traits in a head coach, and several are on target to UAA's specific needs at this point," Myford said. "First, she's been embedded in the program as both a student-athlete and an assistant coach in recent years, and as a result gives our current team and their new teammates some stability and familiarity at a time when questions surround college athletics and how the coming year will unfold across all sports. She's also seen the program rise and has had an active role in the recruiting, training and education of our young women. She's a high achiever – with a 4.0 GPA as an undergraduate and graduate student — and sets a great example of what can be accomplished when priorities, purposeful practice and passion align."
 
Myford said Boggasch will carry her interim role through the 2020-21 season and will begin the process of identifying new assistants immediately.
 
"The University of Alaska Anchorage gymnastics team is the reason that I moved across continents eight years ago and has been an integral part of my life ever since," Boggasch said. "I can't wait to give back to our student-athletes and the UAA community in my new position, and I'm deeply honored and excited to continue the tremendous path of growth our team has been on, pursuing athletic and academic excellence. The current difficulties the world faces, especially, underline the importance to grow into our best selves as individuals and as a team."
 
A four-year letterwinner from 2013-16, the native of Schwarzenbach am Wald, Germany, competed on vault, bars and floor exercise for UAA, helping the Seawolves break school records for team season average and National Qualifying Score as both a junior and senior. A three-time MPSF All-Academic Team honoree, she tied for runner-up on uneven bars at the 2016 MPSF Championships.
 
Boggasch graduated from UAA with a 4.00 grade-point average in 2016, earning her bachelor's degree in aviation technology. Now a professional pilot, she also earned a masters of science degree in interdisciplinary studies – concentrating on management, adult education and aviation – from UAA in 2020.