TOWSON, Md. - You'll forgive Vicki Chliszczyk for carrying the same level of enthusiasm about the gymnastics team's season opening win at Sunday's meet at Ursinus that Ralphie felt for Aunt Clara's gift of a bunny suit in “A Christmas Story.”

Oh, it's not that Chliszczyk didn't want the first place finish in the five-team meet. But, like Ralphie, she was hoping for something a little better.

With five freshmen on the roster, Chliszczyk was hoping the squad would pick up confidence from the win over West Chester, Ursinus, Springfield and Wilson College.

Mission accomplished, but the point total the Tigers amassed wasn't large enough, in Chliszczyk's view, to help down the road.

“We have to look further ahead than just these given meets and make sure that these meets are stepping stones for what our big picture plan is,” said Chliszczyk.

Of course, Ralphie's big picture plan in “A Christmas Story” was getting a Red Ryder B-B gun. For Chliszczyk, the goals are two-fold.

First, the second-year coach wants to get Towson back into the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2000. To do that, the Tigers have to finish the year ranked in the top 36 nationally by achieving high enough scores in six meets.

With stronger performances in meets, including this Sunday's home opener against William & Mary and Alaska Anchorage, the Tigers will be able to replace Sunday's 190.30 team score with something higher.

Meanwhile, Chliszczyk, who guided Towson to an 18-1 regular season record last year, is looking to start a new run of ECAC conference titles to replace the one that ended last season at seven in a row. 

“Obviously, the big picture plan includes winning conference championships and the fact that we didn't do that last year was disappointing because we certainly could have,” said Chliszczyk.

“I've heard before that gymnastics is spelled T-O-D-A-Y," she added. "On that given day, we didn't hit and someone else won. Even though at the end of the season, we were still ranked first in the conference, we didn't win that championship meet.”

Towson's depth was hurt by a preseason injury to senior co-captain Kady Sullivan. Sullivan suffered a broken hand in a practice after Christmas and has had surgery to repair the break.

Chliszczyk said Sullivan's broken hand might heal in six weeks, which could see her cleared for a return by the middle of next month.

But with four other seniors, including co-captain Avis Hixon, Kacy Catanzaro, who won the balance beam Sunday, and Lindsay Poplaski, the all-around winner at Ursinus, the Tigers should be well equipped.