Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Athletics Celebrates Women's History Month: Marny Oestreng
March 21, 2017 | General, Gymnastics, Falcon Club
Throughout the month of March, BGSUFalcons.com will be highlighting some of the women who have impacted the University, the community and the athletics department. From pioneers to more recent members of the department, Matt Markey will be providing the stories of our history. Our fifth story of this series highlights gymnastics national champion Marny Oestreng
Part One - Hayley (Wiemer) Bradford
Part Two - Valerie Newell
Part Three - Stephanie Heldt-Sheller
Part Four - Denise Van De Walle
A year ago, BGSUFalcons.com produced a similar series for Black History Month. Fans can review and re-read those stories by CLICKING HERE.
It took quite a leap for Marny Oestreng-Unnli to end up competing in gymnastics for Bowling Green State University. The native of Norway had to fly through six time zones and traverse some 4,000 miles, give or take a few kilometers, just to reach the BG campus.
Now, some 18 years after Oestreng became Bowling Green's only gymnastics national champion, the distance seems all so insignificant. She recalls stepping off the airplane, and quickly becoming a Falcon for life.
"There are so many good memories," said Oestreng, who won the NCAA title in the floor exercise as a freshman in 1999. "I just loved being both a student and an athlete on the BGSU campus. The beautiful buildings, the smell from the food court, the great classes, and of course, all of the friends that I made. The friends and the people are the best memories."
Her accomplishments put Oestreng in the Bowling Green record book, and led to her Hall of Fame induction in 2013. Besides becoming just the third individual athlete in BGSU history to win an NCAA crown, she was also honored as the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year and Gymnast of the Year in 1999.
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She won 10 individual MAC championships in her career, including the four she won in that remarkable 1999 season – vault, uneven bars, balance beam and the all-around. She closed her BGSU career in 2002 by being named Senior Gymnast of the Year in the conference after leading the Falcons to the best regular season record in school history at 17-1.
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"For me, what was most important was the team spirit and the feeling of being part of something bigger," said Oestreng. "At Bowling Green, I was privileged to be a part of the gymnastics team with nearly 20 hard-working young ladies. We stood together in good days and bad. It was also a lot of fun travelling and competing with my teammates all over the U.S."
Oestreng, who prior to her arrival at BGSU won seven Norwegian all-around titles and competed in the European Championships five times, is now Marny Oestreng-Unnli. She operates her own consulting business in her native Norway, saying that the student-athlete experience at BG provided her with a great platform to start her career.
"That experience, along with the competition throughout my entire gymnastics career, has shaped me into who I am today," she said. "I am very goal-oriented, determined and I always deliver the best quality I can in my work. I use the mental attributes I developed as a student-athlete every day."
Some 15 years after she graduated, Oestreng still holds the Bowling Green record in every individual gymnastics event: the all-around (39.600), floor exercise (9.975), uneven bars (9.950), vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.925). She is equally proud of her academic accomplishments, since those also involved overcoming the language barrier.
"The athletic department was very supportive of me with my classes, which were challenging in a foreign language. I was proud to end up on Dean's List after four years," she said. "And by being a student-athlete, I was able to earn a university degree while competing in gymnastics. I am very glad I have that Bowling Green degree."
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Part One - Hayley (Wiemer) Bradford
Part Two - Valerie Newell
Part Three - Stephanie Heldt-Sheller
Part Four - Denise Van De Walle
A year ago, BGSUFalcons.com produced a similar series for Black History Month. Fans can review and re-read those stories by CLICKING HERE.
It took quite a leap for Marny Oestreng-Unnli to end up competing in gymnastics for Bowling Green State University. The native of Norway had to fly through six time zones and traverse some 4,000 miles, give or take a few kilometers, just to reach the BG campus.
Now, some 18 years after Oestreng became Bowling Green's only gymnastics national champion, the distance seems all so insignificant. She recalls stepping off the airplane, and quickly becoming a Falcon for life.
"There are so many good memories," said Oestreng, who won the NCAA title in the floor exercise as a freshman in 1999. "I just loved being both a student and an athlete on the BGSU campus. The beautiful buildings, the smell from the food court, the great classes, and of course, all of the friends that I made. The friends and the people are the best memories."
Her accomplishments put Oestreng in the Bowling Green record book, and led to her Hall of Fame induction in 2013. Besides becoming just the third individual athlete in BGSU history to win an NCAA crown, she was also honored as the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year and Gymnast of the Year in 1999.
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She won 10 individual MAC championships in her career, including the four she won in that remarkable 1999 season – vault, uneven bars, balance beam and the all-around. She closed her BGSU career in 2002 by being named Senior Gymnast of the Year in the conference after leading the Falcons to the best regular season record in school history at 17-1.
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"For me, what was most important was the team spirit and the feeling of being part of something bigger," said Oestreng. "At Bowling Green, I was privileged to be a part of the gymnastics team with nearly 20 hard-working young ladies. We stood together in good days and bad. It was also a lot of fun travelling and competing with my teammates all over the U.S."
Oestreng, who prior to her arrival at BGSU won seven Norwegian all-around titles and competed in the European Championships five times, is now Marny Oestreng-Unnli. She operates her own consulting business in her native Norway, saying that the student-athlete experience at BG provided her with a great platform to start her career.
"That experience, along with the competition throughout my entire gymnastics career, has shaped me into who I am today," she said. "I am very goal-oriented, determined and I always deliver the best quality I can in my work. I use the mental attributes I developed as a student-athlete every day."
Some 15 years after she graduated, Oestreng still holds the Bowling Green record in every individual gymnastics event: the all-around (39.600), floor exercise (9.975), uneven bars (9.950), vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.925). She is equally proud of her academic accomplishments, since those also involved overcoming the language barrier.
"The athletic department was very supportive of me with my classes, which were challenging in a foreign language. I was proud to end up on Dean's List after four years," she said. "And by being a student-athlete, I was able to earn a university degree while competing in gymnastics. I am very glad I have that Bowling Green degree."
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