Eastern Michigan Athletics
Gymnastics
- Title:
- Head Gymnastics Coach
- Email:
- kminasol@emich.edu
- Phone:
- 734.487.1082
Katie Minasola was named as the fifth Head Women’s Gymnastics Coach at Eastern Michigan University, July 25, 2017, by Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee. The 2025 season marks Minasola’s ninth at the helm of the Eagles.
Most recently, Minasola guided Eastern Michigan to a runner-up finish at the 2025 Mid-American Conference Championship, where the Eagles scored 195.525 points, marking their second-highest total of the season. The team opened the year 4-0 for the first time since at least 2001, and senior Raisa Boris continued her remarkable career by earning MAC Gymnast of the Week honors for the second time that season. Boris was named to the All-MAC First Team, while teammates Alana Fisher and Brooke Lowe earned All-MAC Second Team recognition. Boris and sophomore Abby Brushwood also qualified for NCAA Regionals in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Boris earning a spot in the all-around and Brushwood qualifying on floor.
EMU finished the 2024 season with a sixth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship, posting a team score of 194.000. Under Minasola’s leadership, senior Raisa Boris delivered a standout season, earning both the MAC Gymnast of the Year and Senior Gymnast of the Year honors, becoming the first Eagle to receive both awards since Jolene Worley in 2008. Boris also picked up four MAC Gymnast of the Week accolades during the year. EMU placed two on the All-MAC First Team: Boris in the all-around and Ella Chemotti on beam. Additionally, Boris, Chemotti, and Alana Fisher each qualified as individual competitors for the 2024 NCAA Michigan Regional Championships, highlighting another year of postseason recognition for the program.
EMU finished the 2023 season placing sixth at the 2023 Mid-American Conference Championship with a team score of 195.175. Minasola led the Eagles to their highest event total, a 49.025 on bars during the championship. Additionally, she saw Hadyn Crossen’s career-high 9.900 effort land her in the top spot among all Eagles and in fourth overall.
Minasola led the 2022 squad to two top-10 event scores. The Eagles totaled 49.325 on floor at Northern Illinois, tying for fifth all-time. Additionally, the vault lineup earned 49.150 at the Towson Quad meet, which ties for second in program history. Furthermore, freshman Ella Chemotti had a breakout season under Minasola’s tutelage. Chemotti finished first in the Mid-American Conference on beam with an NQS of 9.875 and qualified for regionals on the event. The freshman scored 9.900 on bars during the conference championship to tie for the title and was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts. The Canton, Mich. native scored a 9.900 on beam at the NCAA Norman Regional and was named to the 2022 All-MAC First Team.
Minasola led the Eagles to their fourth Mid-American Conference Championship in the 2021 season, where the squad finished first with an overall score of 195.900. Individually, Molly Parris tied for first on vault with a score of 9.850, becoming EMU’s first vault champion since 1988. Additionally, Haydn Crossen and Jada Rondeau finished second and third in all-around with scores of 39.225 and 39.125, respectively. The Green and White earned a spot at NCAA Regionals as a team for only the third time in program history, and for the first time under Minasola. Furthermore, Rondeau and Caitlin Satler earned Second Team All-MAC honors for their regular season performances, while Satler also won the conference's Co-Specialist of the Year award for her work on beam and floor.
Though the 2020 season was cut short, Minasola coached two gymnasts to the All-MAC Second Team in Jada Rondeau and Caitlin Satler. Moreover, senior Emili Dobronics capped off her career by being selected for Academic All-District® Women’s At-Large Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The team also saw nine gymnasts named to the Academic All-MAC list and 19 student-athletes named Academic All-Americans by the Women’s College Gymnastics Association.
In the 2019 season, Minasola guided the Eagles to a third-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships, with three podium finishes. Allie Smith and Ciara Gresham earned second and third on vault, respectively, while Emili Dobronics brought the Green and White its first floor title since 2002, earning 9.900 on floor and tying for first. Under the leadership of Minasola, Eastern saw three gymnasts earn MAC Specialist of the Week honors, two by Cortney Bezold, and one by Caitlin Satler, two selections to All-MAC teams, Bezold (First Team) and Dobronics (Second Team), and two named to the MAC All-Tournament Team, Dobronics and Smith. Closing out the season, Bezold, Dobronics, and Smith earned bids to NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich., where they competed individually in bars, all-around, and vault, respectively.
In her first season with the Eagles, Minasola coached the team to a fourth-place finish in the MAC, and two gymnasts to regionals, Emili Dobronics and Kendall Valentin, while Lacey Rubin earned MAC All-Tournament honors. Dobronics was also selected to the All-MAC Second Team, and Valentin was a semi-finalist for the American Athletic Inc. (AAI) Award, honoring the most outstanding female gymnast in the country.
A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Minasola has helped 11 teams to NCAA Regional appearances, including five with Iowa State University and six at Michigan State University.
Prior to arriving in Ypsilanti, Minasola spent six years working at Iowa State, first as an assistant coach and later as the associate head coach, and has a total of 15 years of coaching experience. Minasola began as an assistant coach before assuming the role of associate head coach during the 2017 campaign. While with the Cyclones, she focused on the beam and assisted in the choreography of the floor routines.
In Ames, the Cyclones were successful in their efforts to return to the postseason, making their way into the top-25 twice while qualifying for the NCAA Lincoln Regional. The Cyclones finished the year tied for the second-most improved in the top 30 of the regular season rankings. In addition, she helped Haylee Young qualify for the NCAA National Championship in the all-around.
While ISU missed out on making Regionals as a team in 2016, the foundation was laid as Meaghan Sievers reached the postseason on vault.
The 2015 campaign saw one of Iowa State’s top seasons on the beam in program history. The Cyclones saw Caitlin Brown earn regular-season and postseason All-America honors under Minasola’s watch. Brown and Sammie Pearsall tied the ISU record on beam, each recording a 9.95 during the 2015 season. The team also posted a 49.425 on beam, the third-highest team score in school history.
In her second year at Iowa State, Minasola coached Michelle Shealy to the best finish at the NCAA Championship on beam in Cyclone history and to All-America First-Team honors. Shealy scored 9.900 on beam to qualify for the event finals, and her 9.8375 score and fifth-place finish are the best-ever by a Cyclone on beam at the event finals. Minasola also coached Caitlin Brown to All-Big 12 Championship honors on beam after the sophomore scored 9.875 on the event at the 2013 league meet.
In her first season at ISU, both the floor and beam teams were fixtures in the top-25 national rankings, and Shealy placed second on beam at the Cyclones’ 2012 NCAA regional competition.
Minasola began her coaching career at Michigan State University, where she spent seven seasons working with the Spartans’ gymnastics program. Her position at MSU also included working with the floor exercise competitors on choreography for their routines and serving as the team’s academic liaison.
During her time in East Lansing, the Spartans reached the NCAA Regionals for six consecutive seasons (2006-11), including two top-three team finishes in 2008 and 2011.
A 2016 inductee into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame, Minasola’s track record of domestic competition is impressive in and of itself. At the 1993 Junior Olympics National Championship, Geddert’s Twistars USA product captured a first-place finish on the balance beam, as well as first place all-around in the junior division. Minasola went on to claim two fourth-place all-around finishes that year, first at the U.S. Classic and again at the U.S. Championship, both in the junior division. She also finished first on the floor and ninth all-around at the Catania Cup Classic in Sicily, Italy, in 1993.
In 1994, Minasola took first place in the all-around (junior division) at both the U.S. Classic and the American Classic/World Championship Trials. She also anchored a first-place team finish and a fifth-place all-around finish among competitors from across the globe at the 1994 Hilton Challenge, and finished eighth all-around at the 1994 Coca-Cola National Championships. Minasola’s skills took her to Barcelona, Spain, where she competed in the Joaquim Blume Memorial and posted a third-place all-around finish.
The following year at the American Classic/Pan American Game Trials, she captured fifth place on bars and beam, while finishing sixth on the floor and fifth in the all-around. Minasola’s performance propelled her to become a member of the 1995 U.S. Pan American gold medal-winning team. Minasola earned a fourth-place finish on the balance beam to contribute to the team victory at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. She also performed at the 1995 Visa Challenge, guiding her team to a first-place finish. Individually, she placed third in the all-around, sixth on vault, fourth on bars, sixth on beam, and third on floor.
After her success at the Pan American Games, Minasola was eighth in the all-around at the 1996 U.S. Classics, also tying for first in the uneven parallel bars. At the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials, Minasola ranked eighth all-around, which allowed her the opportunity to serve as an alternate for the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. She also contributed to a first-place team finish at the 1996 Senior Pacific Alliance Championships in Kuantan, Malaysia, by placing second in the floor exercise and third on the bars.
Minasola began her collegiate career as a freshman gymnast at the University of Massachusetts in 2000. In her debut season, she was honored as the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for three straight weeks (Jan. 31, Feb. 8, Feb. 14, 2004), tied the school record on bars (9.950) and beam (9.925), and scored 39.175 all around on two occasions, good for fourth place all-time at UMass.
As a sophomore, Minasola tied her own all-time university record with a 9.950 on bars. She scored a 9.900 or higher six times in the event in 2001, including a conference record of 9.950. She also scored 9.800 or higher three times on beam that same year. In 2002, Minasola established herself as the all-time UMass record holder on both bars (9.975) and went on to become the Atlantic 10 Conference Champion on bars with a score of 9.950. She also took fourth place on bars (9.800) at the 2002 NCAA Northeast Regional.
To complete her collegiate career, Minasola transferred to Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan University, where she set the school’s all-time record on bars with two perfect 10.0 performances in 2003. She earned the top score of 9.975 on bars at the MAC Championships and was also a regional champion on bars (9.900), which qualified her for the national championships.
Minasola is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, earning a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 2003.
She and her husband, Mike, have two sons, Jake and Luke.
| The Katie Minasola File | ||
| Name: | Katie Teft-Minasola | |
| Hometown: | Grand Rapids, Mich. | |
| College: | University of Massachusetts - Bachelor's degree in Sociology - 2003 | |
| Family: | Husband - Mike; Sons - Jake & Luke | |
| Professional Experience | ||
| Year | School/Team | Position |
| 2016-17 | Iowa State University | Associate Head Gymnastics Coach |
| 2011-16 | Iowa State University | Assistant Gymnastics Coach |
| 2004-11 | Michigan State University | Assistant Gymnastics Coach |
| 2003 | Central Michigan University | Student-athlete |
| 1999-02 | University of Massachusetts | Student-athlete |
NCAA Post Season Appearances
2005 - N/A
2006 - NCAA Regionals - 5th
2007 - NCAA Regionals - 4th
2008 - NCAA Regionals - 3rd
2009 - NCAA Regionals - 4th
2010 - NCAA Regionals - 6th
2011 - NCAA Regionals - 3rd
2012 - NCAA Regionals - 6th
2013 - NCAA Regionals - 3rd
2014 - NCAA Regionals - 3rd
2015 - NCAA Regionals - 5th
2016 - N/A
2017 - NCAA Regionals - 6th
2018 - N/A
2019 - N/A
2020 - N/A
2021 - NCAA Regionals - First Round
