March 21, 2007

Illinois Women's Gymnastics notes for State of Illinois Classic (PDF)
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For Openers
The 20th-ranked Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team (8-6, 3-1) heads to Dekalb, Ill. to compete in the State of Illinois Classic this Sunday at 2 p.m. in what will be their final regular season meet. The competition features the four Division I women's gymnastics team from the state - Illinois, Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago and Northern Illinois - and serves as the unofficial state championship. The Illini are coming off a successful weekend in which they posted a 195.625 to top the UIC Flames (193.975).

Scouting The Flames
Illinois-Chicago (6-11) fell to the Fighting Illini at Huff Hall last weekend. The flames posted a 193.975, but it wasn't good enough to beat the Orange and Blue. Senior Rachel Zelinski had the only event title for UIC, taking home first-place on beam with a 9.850. UIC is ranked 37th in the latest GymInfo rankings with an RQS of 193.420. The Flames are coached by Peter Jansson and Mary Jansson.

Scouting The Huskies
Northern Illinois (5-9) scored a 192.175 at Central Michigan last weekend, but fell to the Chippewas (193.500). Sophomore Leah Johnson took second place in the all-around competition, but it wasn't enough for the win. The Huskies finished third in a tri-meet at Huff Hall earlier this season, falling short of the Illini and Iowa State. NIU is ranked 46th in the latest GymInfo rankings with an RQS of 192.440. The Huskies are coached by Mark Sontag.

Scouting The Redbirds
Illinois State (7-11) put up a 190.600 at Southeast Missouri State last week, but fell short in a loss to SEMO, who scored a 192.400. Freshmen Lisa Mulchek and Jessica Prousa placed first and second on the balance beam with scores of 9.875 and 9.800, respectively. Earlier in the season Illinois topped ISU in a tri-meet 194.675-187.825. ISU is ranked 56th in the latest GymInfo rankings with an RQS of 190.430. The Redbirds are coached by Bob Conkling.

Last Year at the State of Illinois Classic
Last year, the Illini struggled at the State of Illinois Classic as they posted their second lowest team score of the season (191.850), however, they still managed to claim the unofficial state championship and take all four event titles and the individual all-around crown. Marijka Botterman (vault), Krystal Melcarek (bars), Julie Crall (beam) and Kim Kruk (floor, all-around) all won titles as the Orange and Blue won their second straight Classic title. Northern Illinois came in second with a score of 190.275, Illinois-Chicago finished third (190.150) and host Illinois State finished fourth (189.875).

Saying Goodbye to the Senior Tri-captains
The Illini gymnastics program honored its three senior tri-captains, Danye Botterman, Cara Pomeroy and Melissa Singer, on Saturday after the final home meet against UIC. 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. Pomeroy took the bars title in her final home meet and Botterman competed for just the second time this season because of injury. Singer was unable to compete in her final hurrah at Huff Hall due to injury.

Illini Reach Highest RQS Ranking Ever
Posting scoring a 195.625 at home last weekend, Illinois dropped one spot in the lastest GymInfo rankings and now holds 20th spot in the nation with a Regional Qualifying Score of 195.090. Illinois' ranking of #19 last week marked the highest national spot the Illini have ever attained based on RQS. The Illini were ranked 33rd after the first week of competition, but moved up gradually each week until this week.

The Illini rank sixth in a loaded South Central Region, just behind #18 Missouri 195.520. Seventh-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 four events - all-around (32nd), vault (61st), beam (80th) and floor (97th). Julie Crall ranks 34th on beam and Maijka Botterman is No. 53 on all-around as well as No. 86 on vault. Senior Cara Pomeroy checks in at 65th nationally on balance beam and 30th on bars, up 70 spots from last week. Sophomore Kim Kruk is 83rd on all-around, while freshman Sarah Schmidt comes in on bars at #75.

Illini Top UIC in Home Finale
The Fighting Illini closed out their home schedule with a 195.625-193.975 victory over Illinois-Chicago in front of 550 fans at Huff Hall last weekend. Freshman Nicole Cowart (vault, floor) and sophomore Marijka Botterman (all-around, vault) each won two event titles, and senior Cara Pomeroy won the uneven bars in her last home meet. Illinois posted a school record on vault (49.125) and also earned a season-high score on floor exercise. (49.150) to improve to 8-6 on the season.

Illinois Leaving Mark on Record Books
Illinois posted a school record on vault and (49.125) also earned a season-high score on floor exercise (49.150) last weekend against UIC to put the 2006-07 women's gymnastics team once again in 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 in school history. 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 the beam score (49.100) 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 10 event titles thus far, including three all-around crowns, and won two last week vs. UIC (vault and floor). She posted seven straight all-around scores of 39.000 or better until last week and has posted a season-high of 39.200 in the all-around. She's the only Illini to win at least one event title on all four individual events and in the all-around this season and is ranked in the top-100 nationally in three events and the all-around.

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, placing second on bars and third on floor at the UIC meet on March 17. Schmidt also won bars and floor titles at Illinois State on March 5. 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 against Denver on March 11 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. Pomeroy made a dramatic improvement on bars this week, jumping from 100th to 30th in the national rankings after scoring a 9.875 vs. UIC to win bars. Pomeroy won the uneven bars in five of her last six meets, including a season-high 9.925 on Feb. 25, and also has 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 seven event titles this season, five on bars and two on beam, and now has 38 event titles in her illustrious 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 Michelle McGrady will be looked at 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
Sophomore standout Julie Crall suffered a season ending achilles tendon tear while warming up before the final rotation against the Auburn Tigers on March 9. She had surgery last 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. Even prior to Julie Crall's season-ending injury, 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. 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, and then cracked the line-up again last week in her final performance at Huff Hall. She hopes to keep that spot in the line-up for the remainder of the seaosn.

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. Archived video is available on the website, and 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 heads to the Big Ten Championships next weekend in University Park, Pa. Competition at Penn State's Rec Hall is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 31.