March 15, 2007
Illinois-UIC Women's Gymnastics Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
#19 ILLINOIS (7-6, 3-1) hosts ILLINOIS-CHICAGO (6-10)
Saturday, March 17, 2007 // 2 p.m.
Huff Hall // Champaign, Ill.
For Openers
The 19th-ranked Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team (7-6, 3-1) welcomes the Flames of Illinois-Chicago to Huff Hall this Saturday at 2 p.m. in what will be the final home meet for seniors Danye Botterman, Cara Pomeroy and Melissa Singer. The Illini are coming off a successful weekend in which they split against two ranked opponents. On Friday, they topped #16 Auburn 195.975-195.775 in Champaign. Then they traveled to Denver, Colo., where they fell to #14 Denver on Sunday afternoon, but still posted a respectable road score in the 194.525-194.750 loss.
Men and Women to Participate in Double Dual
The UIC men's team will also travel to Champaign this Saturday to take on the seventh-ranked Illini men at the same time as the women's meet. The men's action will occur on one side of Huff Hall, while the women's will occur simultaneously on the other side. It will mark the second combined meet of the season for the Orange and Blue, as the two teams also shared the gym back on January 27 when the men faced Ohio State and the women competed against Iowa.
Live Coverage This Weekend
Saturday vs. UIC (2 p.m. CDT) Live video of the women's meet and live stats for both meets at fightingillini.com
Scouting The Flames
Illinois-Chicago (6-10) hosted #16 Auburn on Sunday, two days after the Tigers were upset by the Illini in Champaign. UIC was unable to tame the Tigers, allowing them to escape with three of the four event crowns, en route to a 195.800-193.750 victory. The Flames were led by sophomore Zandre Labuschagne, who tied for the individual event title on bars by posting a 9.875. Fellow sophomore Annie Kachman backed up Labuschagne by recording a score of 39.050 in the all-around, which was good enough for third place. UIC is ranked 43rd in the latest GymInfo rankings with an RQS of 192.650
Saying Goodbye to the Senior Tri-captains
The Illini gymnastics program will honor its three senior tri-captains, Danye Botterman, Cara Pomeroy and Melissa Singer, on Saturday immediately after the final home meet against UIC. Each gymnast has left her mark on the Illini program over the past four years. Pomeroy is the first and only Illini to record a perfect 10.0 and is only the second Illini to earn back-to-back first team All-Big Ten accolades. In total, she has garnered 37 event titles in her career on bars, beam and floor. Botterman and Singer, on the other hand, have each been sidelined for the better part of this season, but they have still played pivitol roles over the past three years. Botterman, participating on vault, bars and floor, has won 10 event titles over the course of her career. Singer, meanwhile, has performed primarily on vault, but also has enjoyed success on beam and floor. The trio has helped lead Illinois to three straight regional appearances, with a fourth right around the corner, and to four of the top six team scores in school history during their careers.
Illini Reach Highest RQS Ranking Ever
With last week's scores of 195.975 and 194.525 against Auburn and Denver, respectively, the Illini have continued their ascent on the national rankings. They now hold claim to the 19th spot in the nation with their Regional Qualifying Score of 194.955 in the latest GymInfo rankings. After moving up from #20 last week, #19 marks the highest national spot the Illini have ever attained based on RQS. The Illini were ranked 33rd after the first week of competition, but have moved up gradually each week since, making the top-18 and a seeded regional spot now within reach.
The Illini rank sixth in a loaded South Central Region, just behind #18 Missouri 195.070 and over half a point ahead of #23 Arizona State (194.380). Fifth-ranked Nebraska is the top team in the region.
Individual Rankings
Individually, the Illini have a number of gymnasts who rank among the nation's elite. Nicole Cowart ranks in the top 100 nationally on three events - all-around (29th), beam (61st), vault (76th). Julie Crall ranks 24th on beam and Maijka Botterman is No. 56 on all-around as well as No. 81 on vault. Senior Cara Pomeroy checks in at 52nd nationally on balance beam, while sophomore Kim Kruk is 67th on all-around. Freshman Sarah Schmidt is the top-ranked Illini on both bars (63rd) and floor (108th).
Illini Nipped by #14 Denver
Two day after competing at home against #16 Auburn, the Illini had a quick turnaround as they faced #14 Denver on the road on Sunday. The team score fell just short of a second straight upset, but still earned the third highest road score on the year. Despite the 194.750-194.525 defeat, Nicole Cowart (beam) and Sarah Schmidt (bars) both took home event titles. Cowart recorded a season-high in the all-around for the second straight meet, scoring a 39.200 to take second overall.
Illini Top #16 Auburn
Last Friday, the Illini collected a season-high score in a 195.975-195.775 victory over #16 Auburn on March 9. The win was their third over a higher ranked team this season. Aside from floor, the Illini scored above a 49.000 on every event in the upset. Sophomore Marijka Botterman (9.900) captured the vault title. Cara Pomeroy (9.925) won the uneven bars, and Nicole Cowart (9.875) brought home the floor exercise title. All three scores were individual team highs on the year. Cowart took second in the all-around with a career-high 39.175. The win, however, did not come without its share of disapointment.
Crall Out for Season
Friday's victory over #16 Auburn was bittersweet, as sophomore standout Julie Crall suffered a season ending achilles tendon tear while warming up before the final rotation against the Tigers. She had surgery this week and is expected to make a full recovery for next season, but her loss will certainly impact the Illini for the remainder of this year. Crall nearly qualified for the NCAA Championships in the all-around last year and was named second team All-Big Ten and Illinois Newcomer of the Year. This year, she was one of Illinois' go-to performers. Competing on vault, beam and floor, Crall had racked up six event titles, all coming in the last five meets prior to her injury. Her national ranking of No. 24 on beam is tops for any Illini this season.
Illinois Leaving Mark on Record Books
With last Friday's victory over #16 Auburn, the 2006-07 women's gymnastics team once again put its name in the team record book. Earlier in the year, the Orange and Blue posted a number of records in a home tri-meet against Iowa State and Northern Illinois on Feb. 25. In that meet, their team score of 195.925 was good for third place on the all-time list. They also tied the school record on vault (49.100), and their score of 49.200 on bars was the third highest ever. Last week's team score against Auburn (195.975) was once again good for third place in school history. It bumped the Feb. 25 score down to fourth place. The vault score of 49.075 against Auburn was the third highest ever, while the bars score of 49.100 was the fourth highest, and their beam score (49.100) was the fifth highest of all time.
Suki's Smooth
Freshman Nicole Cowart, who goes by the nickname Suki, has shown no signs of inexperience in her first season with the Orange and Blue. Cowart leads the team with eight event titles thus far, including three all-around crowns. She has posted seven straight all-around scores of 39.000 or better and has set a new career-high in the all-around in each of the last two meets. She's the only Illini to win at least one event title on all four individual events and in the all-around this season.
Schmidt Shines As Well
Cowart isn't the only freshman making noise this season for the Orange and Blue. Fellow frosh Sarah Schmidt, has been spectacular as of late, winning bars and floor titles at Illinois State on March 5, and ranking as the top Illini both events for the season. Schmidt had the best meet of her young career on Feb. 17 against Michigan State, tying her career-high on all-three events, bars (9.800), beam (9.75), floor (9.825), while winning her first career event title on floor. She's since set a new career-high on bars, with a 9.875 against Iowa State and NIU on Feb. 25. She turned in her first career all-around performance last week against Denver, filling in for the injured Julie Crall on vault, and scored a 38.900 to take third place, while winning the uneven bars title.
Pomeroy Returns to Form
Cara Pomeroy, the team's top gymnast over the past three years, struggled early in the season on bars, her top event, but seems to have rebounded to her usual form in recent meets. She had won four straight bars titles, including a season-high 9.925 on Feb. 25, before faltering Sunday at Denver and also had two beam titles on the season. Pomeroy, a two-time first team All-Big Ten selection, is the only Illini gymnast to ever record a perfect 10.0. She accomplished this with her uneven bars performance at the 2004 NCAA South Central Regional Championships. The Ottawa, Ontario native, has won six event titles this season, four on bars and two on beam, and now has 37 event titles in her career.
Youth Being Served
Not only does this season have the making of a great one for Illinois, but the future also looks bright for the Orange and Blue. Only two of 24 routines (Pomeroy on bars and beam) are by seniors, and for most of the year 20 of the 24 routines have been by freshmen and sophomores. Sophomores Marijka Botterman (AA), Kim Kruk (AA), Julie Crall (VT, BB, FX) and Lindsey Smith (VT, FX), along with freshmen Nicole Cowart (AA) and Sarah Schmidt (UB, BB, FX) accounted for 83 percent of the UI line-up for most of the season. Now with Crall out for the remainder of the season, juniors Krystal Melcarek and Michille McGrady will be looked to to fill the holes left by Crall's absense.
Tough Schedule
16th-ranked Auburn and 14th-ranked Denver were ranked foes number eight and nine for the Illini this season. Auburn became the third higher ranked victim of the Illini this season, joining #19 Ohio State and #18 Michigan State. Thus far, Illinois is 3-6 against ranked opponents.
Injury Report
Even prior to Julie Crall's season-ending injury last weekend, the Illini were not at full strength this season. Senior tri-captain Melissa Singer and freshman Lori Hamilton have missed entire 2006-07 campaign recovering from injuries. Hamilton is close to returning to action, while Singer continues her recovery. Senior Danye Botterman, meanwhile, has missed nearly all of her final season. She returned to the vault line-up at Michigan State (2/17) after missing the first five meets, but has not competed since. She is still hoping to crack the vault line-up before year's end, especially with Crall now out of the line-up.
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 all home meets with a CSTV All-Access subscription ($6.95 per month), in addition to free archived video of select away meets. 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.
Up Next
Illinois closes the regular season by heading Dekalb, Ill., for the State of Illinois Classic next Sunday, March 25. The competition features the four Division I NCAA women's gymnastics teams in the state - Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois State and Northern Illinois. The Illini are looking for their second straight unofficial state championship. Following that meet, the Orange and Blue will kick-off their championship season with the Big Ten Championships on March 31 in University Park, Pa.
