March 31, 2007

Results |  Big Ten Championship Photo Gallery 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Senior Cara Pomeroy (Ottawa, Ontario) went out in style at her last Big Ten Championship meet, winning the uneven bars with a spectacular 9.950 and helping the 21st-ranked Illini to a third place finish and season-high road score of 195.250 in front of over 2,700 fans at Penn State Rec Hall Saturday night. The team finish is the highest for Illinois since it won the 1990 Big Ten title, and Pomeroy's event title is the first by an Illini in eight years.

"I'm speechless," said an elated Illini head coach Bob Starkell after the meet. "As a team, our goal all season has been to finish in the top three at Big Tens. In a way, I think last week's disappointment (finishing third at the State of Illinois Classic) may have helped us this week. Last night we had a different energy and a different focus than I've seen this season, and that helped us today. I know it's our highest finish in a long time, and we're a young team, so this is a big building block for the future of Illinois gymnastics."

For Pomeroy, winning the bars title is a fitting way to cap her Big Ten career. She finished fourth in each of the last two years, and with today's victory, she now has 41 career event titles. She is the first Illinois Big Ten Event Champion since Gina Wiechmann won the balance beam in 1999.

"As soon as Cara stuck the landing I know she had it," said Starkell of Pomeroy's title. "I'm so excited that she finally got the hardware. She's been one of the top bar workers in the conference for the last four years, but she's had some bad breaks at Big Tens in terms of rotation order or competitors having career days. It's a great feeling for her to finally get a title in her last try."

Like Starkell, Pomeroy had trouble coming up with words to describe how happy she was that she and her teammates had performed so well.

"I don't know what to say," Pomeroy said. "Everyone hit in front of me, and I knew if I hit my routine it would be possible to win. It's a good feeling after four years of hard work to finally get a Big Ten Championship and I'm so happy for the whole team and the way we stepped up today."

Illinois finished the meet on the uneven bars, where Pomeroy's 9.950 was preceded by five nearly flawless performances by her teammates. Each gymnast scored a 9.800 or better for a team total of a 49.300, marking the second straight week the team posted the second highest bars score in school history. Last week, the Illini scored a 49.250 at the State of Illinois Classic, which second only to the school record of 49.475 set in 2004 at the time. On Saturday, freshman Sarah Schmidt (Hartland, Wisc.) tied for second place on the event with a career-high 9.900, and fellow frosh Nicole Cowart (Greenwood, Ind.) tied for eighth with a career-best 9.850. The remaining three competitors, junior Krystal Melcarek (Mukwonago, Wis.) and sophomores Marijka Botterman (New Lenox, Ill.) and Kim Kruk (Carol Stream, Ill.), each scored a 9.800.

Illinois had the tough task of starting the night off on the always tough balance beam in the first rotation, but, despite an early set back, put up a solid opening rotation score of 48.775. Cowart started things off with a 9.625, and then Marijka Botterman suffered a fall in the second position, putting the pressure on the rest of the line-up. The Illini responded with four straight hit routines, including a career-high 9.825 by Kruk, a 9.825 by Pomeroy, a season-high tying 9.750 by junior Michelle McGrady (Buffalo Grove, Ill.), and a 9.750 by Schmidt. Kruk and Pomeroy's scores were good enough to tie for fourth place on the event.

After a bye, the Orange and Blue moved to the floor exercise, where they turned in a solid, but not spectacular, total of 48.600. Cowart led the way with a 9.775, followed by Schmidt and Melcarek with 9.750s. Sophomore Lindsey Smith (Collinsville, Ill.) scored a 9.675 and Botterman a 9.650 to round out the scoring. After three rotations, Illinois was in third place with a total of 97.375.

On the vault in the fifth rotation, Illinois had some minor breaks, but still gutted out a 48.575 to stay in the hunt for third and set up the finale on bars. McGrady led the way on vault with a 9.800, which tied for 11th overall, and was followed closely by Cowart and Botterman, who each score d a 9.750. Kruk also came up big on vault, scoring a 9.700 while fighting through a foot injury that has limited her in practice as of late.

Illinois had two gymnasts on the podium in the all-around, both freshmen. Cowart tied for fourth with a 39.000, and Schmidt was just behind her with a 38.975.

No. 13 Michigan (196.575) claimed the team title by just one-tenth of a point over host No. 12 Penn State (196.475), its eighth title in the last nine years. No. 21 Illinois was third (195.250), well head of fourth-place and 20th-ranked Ohio State (194.025). No. 22 Minnesota (193.225), the defending champion, finished fifth, Iowa (192.750) was sixth, and No. 19 Michigan State (192.650) rounded out the field in seventh.

Illinois will now have to wait two weeks before heading to the University of Arizona for NCAA Regional competition. Official regional assignments won't be announced until Monday, April 2, but the Illini already know that they'll be headed to Tucson, Ariz., for the South Central Regional on Saturday, April 14.