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Men's Gymnastics
Justin Spring was promoted to Associate Head Coach for the Illinois men's gymnastics program following the 2009 season after three years as an assistant under the legendary Yoshi Hayasaki. In his new role, Spring will handle all in the gym coaching duties along with assistant Ivan Ivankov and will work closely with Director of Gymnastics Bob Starkell outside the gym. The promotion means that Spring will retire from competitive gymnastics to concentrate on coaching full time. In 2009, Spring was named Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year along with Ivankov after helping Illinois to the Big Ten Championship, a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and three individual NCAA titles. Spring, a former Illini standout, is coming off of an amazing year that culminated with winning a bronze medal with Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Along with his teammates, Spring defied all odds as the U.S. men brought home the bronze medal and surprised everyone, except themselves. Spring was spectacular in the team finals in leading the Americans to the improbable bronze. He scored 15.900 on vault in the second rotation, a team-leading 15.850 on parallel bars, a spectacular 15.675 on horizontal bar, along with 15.200 on floor exercise in the three-up, three-count format. Spring's road to the Olympics was not an easy one to say the least. Plagued by injuries throughout his career, Spring battled through constant pain in hopes of accomplishing his lifelong dream of bringing home an Olympic medal. Less than a year before his Olympic appearance, Spring tore his ACL at the 2007 Visa Championships. However, he did not let incident hamper his dreams. After making a speedy recovery, the Burke, Va., native headed to the 2008 Olympic Trials, where he was scheduled to compete on only four events due to a nagging ankle injury. However, he knew he needed to do more in order to make the team. He needed to show the Olympic selection committee that he had the complete package they were looking for. With his dream on the line, Spring rolled the dice and made a last minute decision to add floor exercise to his competition events. Despite not practicing on the event in nearly two months, the gutsy moved paid off as he posted a score of 15.200, the second highest score of the night. After a second strong day of competition at the Olympic Trials, all Spring could do was wait. The Olympic team would be announced the next day. In the end, the decision to add floor proved to have a huge pay off, as Spring's name was one of the six announced to the team. Spring, one of the most talented gymnasts in Illinois history, finished his collegiate career in 2006. He now looks to help lead the Orange and Blue to Big Ten and NCAA Championship titles in his new role on the coaching staff. In his first season as an assistant in 2007, Spring was instrumental in helping the Illini return to the NCAA Championships Super Six, as the Illini extended their top-five finishes to five straight years with a fifth-place finish at NCAAs and Big Tens. Last season, Spring helped lead the Illini to a runner-up finish behind No. 1 Penn State at the Big Ten Championships. At the 2008 NCAA Championships, the Illini continued their success finishing third, their sixth consecutive top-five finish. The Illini brought home nine All-American honors with freshman Paul Ruggeri winning the national title on high bar, Illinois' first high bar champion since Spring in 2006. Finishing his collegiate career in 2006, Spring strung together one of the best seasons in Illinois gymnastics' history. The season culminated in earning the 2006 Nissen-Emery Award, an honor that goes to the top senior male gymnast in the nation. A double titlist at the 2006 NCAAs, Spring took home the crown in the high bar and defended his title in parallel bars. In addition, he carded five total All-America honors with a second-place finish in all-around, third on floor exercise and fourth on vault. Along with his individual honors, Spring helped the Illini to runner-up finishes at the 2006 NCAA and Big Ten Championships. The finish at NCAAs came less than a half-a-point shy of team-champion Oklahoma, and just short of the Orange and Blue's 10th national title. Overall, the Burke, Va., native is a four-time NCAA Champion, winning a pair of titles on high bar in both 2004 and 2006 and back-to-back crowns on parallel bars in 2005 and 2006. Along with his national recognition, Spring earned 2006 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year accolades after winning the all-around crown at Big Ten Championships. In all, Spring finished his illustrious career with three All-Big Ten first team honors, six Big Ten Gymnast of the Week laurels and three Inside Gymnastics' NCAA Gymnast of the Week honors. During his four-year career, Spring garnered three Big Ten Championships with titles on parallel bars and all-around in 2006 and on the floor exercise in 2004. Spring is a two-time recipient of the Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year award (2004, 2006), which goes to Illinois' top male and female athlete. A face and name that will forever be remembered in Illini record books, Spring left the Fighting Illini a 12-time All-American, the most since Abie Grossfeld earned 13 from 1957-59, and holds Illinois records on floor exercise, vault, parallel bars and high bar. Spring's success has extended far beyond his honors in collegiate competition. This past spring he won the national title on parallel bars at the 2008 Visa Championships, his third overall honor. In 2005, Spring became the first Illini gymnast to win a National Title at the Visa Championships, winning the gold on high bar. With his two-day combined high bar score of 18.750, Spring took home the title on the event. He competed at the 2007 World Cup meet in Moscow, taking home second on high bar at the event. The Illini great was chosen to the 2007 U.S. Pan American Games team, bringing home the United States' first gold medal at the games in 16 years when he claimed the crown on parallel bars. He also helped lead the U.S. team to a bronze medal finish at the Games hosted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Spring then followed the performance with a stellar outing at the 2007 Visa U.S. Championships, where he collected his second U.S. title on high bar - first since 2005 - and was a silver medalist on floor exercise. Overall, Spring is a five-time U.S. Senior National Team member after his fifth straight selection in 2008. Spring also represented the U.S. at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne, Australia, on floor exercise, parallel bars and high bar. At the 2005 World Championships, Spring finished 10th to qualify as a reserve on high bar and finished 12th on parallel bars. At the 2005 American Cup, Sping scored a 9.500 on high bar and brought home the silver medal behind only Olympic champion Paul Hamm. The Illini gymnast finished fourth on the high bar at the 2004 Visa U.S. Championships and competed for Team USA at the 2003 World University Games in Daegu, South Korea, advancing to the finals on floor. Spring graduated from the University of Illinois in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication. Spring and his fiancé Tori Tanney plan to wed in the summer of 2010.
THE SPRING FILE Education Coaching Coaching Honors International Career Collegiate Career Updated April 2009
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