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Freshman Alyssa Harmon
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Jan. 21, 2009
Get behind the scenes of Illinois Gymnastics with Illini Ink - the weekly women's gymnastics journal. In this week's edition, freshman Alyssa Harmon talks about the opening meet at Michigan State, the home opener against Penn State, and seeing Coach Landrus' baby for the first time.
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Hey Illini fans!
Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks it's been... I hope everyone has been staying warm!
We kicked off our season at Michigan State two weeks ago and it was a blast! It was really exciting to travel with the team for the first time. It was a quad meet with University of Michigan, Michigan State, and Western Michigan. Even though we weren't competing at home, we still had lots of Illini parents and fans cheering us on. We got second place with a 193.950 and were very pleased with our performances for the season opener. Marijka and Kelsey tied for third place in the all-around with the score of 39.1. Sarah placed third on bars with a 9.8, Kelsey earned the beam title with a 9.85, and Lashlee placed second on beam with a 9.75. After we returned to Champaign, we enjoyed watching the meet on the Big Ten Network!
We worked hard in the gym last week and started to gear up for our first home meet against Penn State! The energy in the gym was high and we were ready to go. It was great to back in our home gym at Huff Hall, and of course we love all our fans wearing Illinois Orange and Blue! The meet was SO exciting and all of our hard work in the gym definitely showed. Marijka got second place on vault with a 9.875, Allison placed second on bars with a 9.825 and third on floor with a 9.825, and Mel and Kelsey tied for first on beam with a 9.85. Kelsey also got second in the all-around with a 39.1. Sarah took home two event titles on bars and floor posting solid 9.9's, and Suki earned first in the all-around with a 39.175. We defeated Penn State with a team score of 195.500, over a point and a half higher than our first meet! Way to go girls!
On Sunday after the meet, Bob took us out to a delicious breakfast and then we all headed over to Kim's house to see her new baby boy! We were all really looking forward to seeing Zachary for the first time, and he is absolutely adorable! We're so excited to have a new little Illini added to the family.
Classes resumed this week and all the underclassmen moved back into the dorms. We're keeping up the hard work in the gym and looking forward to another home meet this weekend against Iowa! Come support us Saturday at 7 p.m.!
Thanks for reading and GO ILLINI!
-Alyssa
