After wrapping up an incredible four-year career that included three national championships, four Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championships and the 2025 Kwik Trip Gymnast of the Year, Delaney Cienkus was named the 2025 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Division III Gymnast of the Year April 9.
In the final meet of her career, Cienkus dominated in the beam, leading the nation with an average score of 9.8063. In the floor exercise, she had the nation’s fifth best average score at a 9.7938. Although UWO failed to reclaim the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association title for the fourth year in a row, Cienkus earned WCGA D-III Gymnast of the Year honors and was named to the WCGA Regular Season All-America First Team on the beam and second team on the floor exercise.
Cienkus was recruited out of Plainfield, Illinois, where she performed gymnastics at Premier Gymnastics Academy West. Her parents Tammy Masciola and Jim Cienkus, who both are former gymnasts, put Delaney into gymnastics.
Delaney wasn’t the only kid in the family doing gymnastics, as her brother Zachary also performed, but eventually gave it up in high school. Her parents didn’t want Cienkus to do gymnastics her entire life, but that clearly hasn’t panned out the way they wanted.
The two were put into gymnastics at an early age due to its developmental benefits, but fell in love with the sport. She continued through high school and decided to take her talents to UWO.
Her decision to come to Oshkosh was fairly easy. She was in conversation with a few schools, but UWO was the only campus she visited. The visit took place with head coach Lauren Karnitz during the pandemic and one moment stuck with her the most.
The two were walking around campus when everyone was in quarantine. Two girls on the team, who were in Webster Hall sick with COVID-19, screamed out of the window to her and Karnitz to say hi. Karnitz in response asked if they were doing okay and asked if they needed anything from the corner store, which gave Cienkus a sense of comfort and trust around her eventual head coach.
Cienkus not only had that experience to count on, but also knew someone on the team who spoke good things about the program. Mia Lucero and Meaghan O’Connor, two girls from her former gymnastics club, were being recruited by UWO.
Besides one time her freshman year where Cienkus participated in the vault, Cienkus has only participated in the balance beam and the floor exercise at UWO. She’s had great success over the course of her career, but there were times she lacked confidence in her ability in the beam.
Before coming to UWO, Cienkus loved doing beam but didn’t enjoy competing in it. She lacked what she believed to be the confidence for competing in the event. Karnitz played a big role in developing that confidence for her by putting her out there and trusting Cienkus’ ability to perform on the beam.
During her freshman year, Cienkus remembers Karnitz being harder on her throughout practices because of the consistency she performed at.
In her sophomore and junior years, Cienkus ran into confidence problems again in the beam, but Karnitz again trusted and pushed her when she needed it most.
“I don’t even know if I can put it into words,” Cienkus said. “She was always there to sometimes yell at me when I needed it and push me to do better, but also support me when I needed it.”
Through thick and thin, Cienkus was able to accomplish so much. Her sophomore year, Cienkus set the WIAC championship individual record in the beam event, while making the 2023 WCGA Regular Season All-American second team in the beam.
After breaking the individual record in the WIAC championship, Cienkus felt a sense of pressure whenever back in those situations, but remained consistent.
In the WIAC championship Cienkus never put up a score less than 9.55 in the beam, averaging 9.675 in her four appearances. At the NCGA championship, it remained the same story. She averaged over 9.7 in the beam, and never scored less than 9.6. Both of her lowest scoring performances were her freshman year.
Cienkus’ teammates describe her as a determined individual, who’s constantly working to be the best at what she does, whether that’s performing, supporting the team or being a friend outside of gymnastics. Her work ethic and eccentric personality impacted the team, and that’s clear after talking with some of her teammates.
“This team won’t be the same without Delaney, but her legacy of hard work, kindness, and a little bit of chaos, because let’s be real, we were never boring, but that will live on,” Kenzie Havlik said.
Lydia Hayden said sharing the balance beam with Cienkus was something special.
“This year we started doing what we like to call ‘battles’ at each meet,” Hayden said. “We used this to distract our minds and encourage and push each other to be the best we can, but also stay in the moment and have fun. Some examples include who could smile more, who has bigger leaps. It was something fun and special to us that we did, and I will miss it next year.”
Havlik said that during practices, they would turn conditioning into games or challenges and before meets the two would often find themselves talking about anything other than gymnastics.
“I’ll never forget the countless pre-meet beam talks, or should I say distractions we had,” Havlik said. “Like her basement flooded, or even the mysterious bird we supposedly saw in the ceiling at Hamline. Those are the moments that made this journey unforgettable with her.”
Even during the most serious times, Cienkus’ relationships within the program took priority. She’d make fun out of anything to bring the best out of her and her teammates.
After winning her fourth WIAC championship, Cienkus was awarded the 2025 Kwik Trip Gymnast of the Year, something that Cienkus said shocked her.
“I’m proud of everything I did and happy I was able to come here and be as successful as I was,” Cienkus said. “Because if you had told me my freshman year that I would be this successful, I’d be like there’s no way I’m going to do all that. So I just think about it, and it’s super cool and I’m proud of it.”
Cienkus didn’t miss one meet in her collegiate career. She was there for the team to perform, and support whenever called upon.
