Jan. 25, 2007
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No. 31 ILLINOIS (0-2) hosts No. 26 IOWA (1-3)
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007 // Huff Hall // Champaign, Ill. // 7 p.m.
For Openers
The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team (0-2) opens its home schedule this Saturday, Jan. 27, when they welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes (1-3) to Huff Hall at 7 p.m. The meet marks the first Big Ten opponent the Illini will face this season. Illinois fell to #14 LSU in its last meet, 193.850-193.300, and is ranked No. 31 in the latest GymInfo rankings with an average score of 192.162. Iowa, meanwhile, is coming off a third place performance in a quadrangular meet with North Carolina State, Georgia and Ohio State.
Scouting The Hawkeyes
Last weekend the Hawkeyes finished third in a quadrangular meet that featured Georgia, North Carolina State and Ohio State. Iowa scored a 193.750, which topped Ohio State's 193.250, but was not enough to knock off Georgia's 197.250 or NC State's 194.625. Katie Burke and Kara Pinjuv led the Hawks with all-around scores of 39.050, which tied for third place. Iowa is ranked No. 26 of the lastest GymInfo rankings with an average of 193.137. In their season opener on Jan. 12, the Hawkeyes were defeated at home by LSU, 194.875-192.525.
Illini women-Men share the floor on Saturday
The Fighting Illini men's and women's teams will share the floor at Huff Hall this Saturday in the first of two co-ed meets this season. The No. 5 Illinois men will host No. 4 Ohio State on one side of Huff, while the Illini women host Iowa on the other side at the same time. The second combined meet will be on March 17, when both the men and women host Illinois-Chicago on Senior Day.
Last Year against the Hawks
The two teams met last season in Iowa City, where the 23rd-ranked Fighting Illini topped the Hawkeyes 193.850-193.025 at the Iowa Fieldhouse. Cara Pomeroy led the way for the Orange and Blue, taking first place on both the uneven bars and balance beam with identical scores of 9.825. Michelle McGrady also tied for first on the vault with a 9.825.
Start Me Up
Illinois started off the season on Jan. 12 with a shaky performance at No. 18 Missouri. Nicole Cowart was the lone bright spot, winning the vault with a 9.850 in her first collegiate competition, however the Illini fell to the Tigers by a score of 194.025-191.025.
The Fighting Illini showed a lot of improvement in their second meet against No. 14 LSU in Baton Rouge, La. last weekend. Though they suffered their second defeat of the season, the Illini upped their score by over two full points in the 193.850-193.300 setback. Marijka Botterman took home the all-around title with a career high score of 38.925 and Cara Pomeroy tied for first on the balance beam with a 9.825.
Pommie Bounces Back
After struggling in her first meet of the year, senior tri-captain Cara Pomeroy bounced back at LSU by claiming a first place finish on the balance beam (9.825), as well as a second place finish on the uneven bars (9.825). Pomeroy is a two-time first team All-Big Ten selection and is the only Illini gymnast to ever record a perfect 10.0 with her uneven bars performance at the 2004 NCAA South Central Regional Championships. She now has 32 career event titles in her illustrious career after winning the beam at LSU.
Freshman Cowart Catching on Fast
Freshman Nicole Cowart has shown no signs of inexperience in her first two performances of the season. Against Missouri in her first collegiate competition, the talented freshman took home the vault title (9.850) and also placed third in the all-around (38.250). Though she was a little shakier in her second effort of the year, Cowart still posted scores above 9.600 in the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam, as well as a 38.150 score in the all-around competition against LSU.
Injury Report
The Illini have yet to be at full strength this season as senior tri-captains Danye Botterman and Melissa Singer, and freshman Lori Hamilton have missed the first two meets recovering from injuries. Botterman and Hamilton are close to returning to action, while Singer continues her recovery.
Keep up with the Orange and Blue at fightingillini.com
Gymnastics fans can get the latest on the Illini at fightingillini.com, the official website of Illinois athletics. Live scoring will be available for all home meets at fightingillini.com, and Live streaming video will be available for the final four home meets of the season with a CSTV All-Access subscription ($6.95 per month). Video of Saturday's meet against Iowa will be available for free as an archive beginning Monday morning (Jan. 29), but will not be broadcast live.
Be sure to check out what life is like outside the gym for the Fighting Illini by reading "Illini Ink", the weekly blog that is written by a different UI gymnast each week. Also, photo galleries are added to the site on a weekly basis, making it easy to follow the Orange and Blue.
Up Next
After Saturday's meet against Iowa, the Illini will return the friendly confines of Huff Hall next Saturday, Feb. 3, when they host the Ohio State Buckeyes at 7 p.m.
