April 11, 2007

Complete Illinois South Central Regional Notes (PDF)
South Central Regional Championship Central
Read the latest version of Illini Ink by Julie Crall(April 11)

#20 Illinois at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships
Saturday, April 14, 2007 // 6 pm PT/8 pm CDT // McKale Center // Tucson, Ariz. // Hosted by the University of Arizona

For Openers
The 20th-ranked Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team heads to Tuscon, Ariz. to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional this Saturday, April 14, at 6 p.m. PT/8 p.m. CT. Illinois enters as the fourth seed in the six-team field, joining Pac-10 Conference foes No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 15 Arizona and No. 26 Arizona State, along with No. 36 Illinois-Chicago. The Orange and Blue are coming off an impressive performance at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago in University Park, Pa., where they posted a season-high road score of 195.250 to take third place.

Coverage of the South Central Regional
Live Stats will be available at fightingillini.com or arizonaathletics.com. A complete recap, along with results and photos will be available at fightingillini.com following the meet.

Quick Hits
• Back to Regionals: This year marks Illinois' fourth straight NCAA Regional appearance and will be the program's 20th overall appearance at regional competition.

• Pomeroy Ends UI Title Drought: Senior tri-captain Cara Pomeroy won the 2007 Big Ten Uneven Bars title with a dazzling 9.950 to become the first Illini since 1999 to win a conference event crown.

• Making Noise at Big Tens: As a team, Illinois finished in third place at the Big Ten Championships, the highest finish in a conference meet since it won the event in 1990.

Regional Championship Preview
Illinois enters the South Central Regional ranked fourth in the field of six teams that are vying for the two coveted spots to the National Collegiate Championships. No. 4 Stanford (196.855 RQS), No. 8 Oregon State (196.600) and the host No. 15 Arizona Wildcats (195.995) are the three seeded teams assigned to the regional, while Arizona State (194.755) and Illinois-Chicago (193.985) follow the Illini as the fifth and sixth seeds at the regional. Along with the six teams that qualified for the regional, individual competitors from Southeast Missouri State, Northern Illinois, Illinois State and Texas Women's University will compete in all four events and the all-around. The Illini will start on the balance beam, the same rotation they had at the Big Ten Championships.

Advancing To The Next Level
The top two teams from each of the six regional sites around the country will advance to the National Collegiate Championships April 26-28 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, the top two all-arounders not on a qualifying team advance, as well as each event winner if they're not already qualified with a team or as an all-arounder.

DeJa Vu in Tucson?
The Fighting Illini hope to re-create some the magic that happened the last time they competed at the McKale Center, at the 2004 South Central Regional Championships. It was a memorable meet for the Illini and for current UI senior Cara Pomeroy, here are the highlights:

• Pomeroy, then a freshman, scored the first perfect 10.0 in Illinois history to win the uneven bars

• Led by Pomeroy's 10, Illinois broke the team uneven bars record by racking up a score of 49.475

• Ashley Williams (all-around) and Pomeroy (bars) became the first Illini to advance to the national championships in 17 years

• Illinois' score of 195.400 was the highest ever scored by a UI team at a regional meet

Regional Favorites
Vault: Oregon State's Mandi Rodriguez enters as the top-ranked vaulter at the regional. She's ranked eighth in the nation with a 9.905 event RQS, while her teammate Tasha Smith, is ranked 14th with 9.895. Nicole Cowart is Illinois' top individual on the event, she ranks 74th in the country and ninth in the regional (9.835).

Bars: Cara Pomeroy appears to be Illinois' best chance for an event title. Pomeroy ranks seventh in the in the nation on bars with a 9.910 event RQS, just behind Stanford's Tabitha Yim, who ranks fifth in the country and first in the regional with a 9.915. Arizona's Karin Wurm is tied with Pomeroy with a 9.910.

Beam: Oregon State's Lami Lanz leads the regional on beam with a 9.880 event RQS that ranks her 13th in the country. Illinois' Julie Crall is the top-ranked Illini, coming at 46th overall and eighth in the regional with a 9.845 RQS, but she'll be unable to competet to due to injury. Pomeroy is next in line with a 9.820, which ranks 11th in the regional.

Floor: OSU's Lanz again tops the regional on floor, with a 9.895 RQS that ranks 16th in the nation. Cowart leads Illinois, ranking 16th in the regional with a 9.815 RQS.

All-Around: Oregon State's Lanz is the top all-around entering the regional, ranking eighth in the country with a 39.465 RQS, while Cowart is the top Illini arounder, ranking 46th in the country and ninth in the regional with a 39.095 RQS.

Coach Starkell Says...
"This is a very exciting time for our young team. We just came off a very successful performance at the Big Ten Championship, so I think we are approaching Regionals this year with a lot of confidence. This certainly won't be an easy competition with the caliber of teams we'll be competing against, but hopefully we can take full advantage of momentum we gained at Big Tens."

IllinI Regional Championship History
Illinois will be making its fourth straight, and 20th overall, appearance in the NCAA Regional Championships this weekend. The Illini's best finish at a regional meet is fourth on six occasions, most recently last season at the South Central Regional in Arkansas. Illinois has never advanced past the regional as a team, and the last time UI individuals made it to nationals was in 2004, when Ashley Williams (all-around) and Cara Pomeroy (uneven bars) accomplished the feat.

Last Year at the South Central Regional
At last year's regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Illini finished in fourth (193.125), which tied their best ever finish at a regional meet. Prior to last season, they had not finished above fifth place since 1987. Florida (196.375) along with Arkansas (195.400) finished one and two and advanced to the NCAA Championships. UCLA (195.175) came in third place just ahead of the Illini. Julie Crall, nearly qualified for the national championships by taking fifth in the all-around with a 38.950, while Cara Pomeroy tied for eighth on the uneven bars.

Illini Thrive at Big Tens
Illinois is coming off a third place finish at the 2007 Big Ten Championships two weeks ago in University Park, Pa., its highest finish since winning the conference crown in 1990. The 21st-ranked Illini scored a 195.250, their top road score of the season, to finish behind No. 13 Michigan and No. 12 Penn State, and a head of No. 19 Michigan State, No. 20 Ohio State, No. 22 Minnesota and Iowa. In addition to the team success, Cara Pomeroy broke an eight-year UI title drought by winning the uneven bars with 9.950, leading the team to a season-high team score of 49.300 on the event. Freshman Nicole Cowart took fourth in the all-around (39.000), and fellow freshman Sarah Schmidt tied for second on bars (9.900) and took sixth in the all-around (38.975).

All-Big Ten Awards
Three Fighting Illini picked up All-Big Ten honors as the annual Big Ten banquet March 30 on the eve of the conference championships. Freshman Nicole Cowart took home first team honors, while Cara Pomeroy and Julie Crall were named to the second team. Pomeroy becomes the first Illini ever to pick-up All-Big Ten accolades in each of her four seasons with the Orange and Blue, earning first team status in 2005 and 2006, and second team honors in 2004 and 2007. In addition to the All-Big Ten teams, sophomore Marijka Botterman was recognized as Illinois' Sportsmanship Honoree.

Illini Reach Highest RQS Ranking Ever
After dropping one spot in the rankings after each of the past two meets, the Illini moved back up to No. 20 after the impressive performance at Big Tens, and now have an RQS of 195.235. After the March 11 meet at Denver, Illinois climbed to the 19th spot, marking the the highest national ranking the Illini have ever attained based on RQS. The Illini were ranked 33rd after the first week of competition, but moved up gradually during the first 10 weeks of the season. The Illini rank sixth in a loaded South Central Region that had five teams finish in the top-18 to earn seeded spots in regionals around the country.

Individual Rankings
Individually, the Illini have a number of gymnasts who rank among the nation's elite. Senior Cara Pomeroy, fresh off her Big Ten title on the uneven bars, ranks seventh in the nation on the event. She also checks in at 73rd nationally on beam. Nicole Cowart ranks in the top 100 nationally on two events - all-around (46th) and vault (74th). Julie Crall ranks 46th on beam and Maijka Botterman is No. 72 in all-around, while freshman Sarah Schmidt comes in on bars at #55.

Illinois Leaving Mark on Record Books
This season Illinois has broken one school record and posted several scores that rank in the UI all-time top-10 lists. The Fighting Illini set the vault school record with a 49.125 vs. UIC on March 17 after tying the old record of 49.100 earlier in the season vs. Iowa State and UIC. Overall, the Orange and Blue have posted four of the top-7 vault scores in school history this season. They've also put up four of the top-6 uneven bars scores, including a 49.300 at the Big Ten Championships, which ranks second on the all-time list. In terms of overall team score, the Illini have racked up three of the top-10 all-time scores, including a 195.975 (March 9) and a 195.925 (Feb. 25), which rank third and fourth on the list, respectively. For an updated list of the UI all-time top-10 lists, see the right side of this page.

Pomeroy Returns to Form
Cara Pomeroy, the team's top gymnast over the past three years, struggled early in the season on the uneven bars, her top event, but has rebounded to hit her routine in seven of the last eight meets, including back-to-back 9.950s in each of the last two meets to take event titles at the State of Illinois Classic and Big Ten Championships. That score equals the second-highest bars score in school history, behind only her own 10.0 at the 2004 South Central Regional Championships. Her return to form on bars has helped her jump from 100th to 7th in the national rankings over the last four weeks, and she enters this weekend's South Central Regionals with the top ranking in the region with an event RQS of 9.910. Pomeroy has now won the uneven bars in seven of her last eight meets, and has also won three beam titles on the season, giving her 10 individual titles this season and 41 for her illustrious career. Pomeroy is a four-time All-Big Ten selection, becoming the first Illini ever to earn all-conference in each of her four seasons.

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. Competing all-around in every meet this season, Cowart is tied with Cara Pomeroy for the team lead with 10 event titles thus far, including three all-around crowns. She placed fourth in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships, and three meets ago vs. UIC, she was a double event winner for the third time this season, taking vault and floor. She heads into the Regional ranked ninth in the all-around with an RQS of 39.095. In the meet at Denver on March 11, she 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 on vault and in 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 well, racking up four event titles and 20 top-three finishes on the season, including a second place finish on bars at Big Tens with a career-high 9.900. With several teammates struggling through injuries as of late, Schmidt has stepped up and competed all-around in three of the last four meets, taking third twice before finishing sixth at Big Tens. She was a double-winner (bars and floor) at Illinois State on March 4.

Youth Being Served
Not only does this season have the making of a great one, 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 until sophomore Julie Crall went down with an achilles injury on March 9, 20 of the 24 routines were 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 year, juniors Krystal Melcarek and Michelle McGrady, and freshman Sarah Schmidt have stepped in on extra events.

Tough Schedule
Head coach Bob Starkell and his staff made it a point to upgrade Illinois' competition this season, and that was certainly the case as the Illini faced 14 ranked foes in the regular season. The young Illini responded by topping six higher-ranked foes on the year. They have beaten both Ohio State and Michigan State twice, beating the Buckeyes when they were ranked #19 and #20, and by taking out the Spartans of Michigan State when they were ranked #18 and #19. On March 9, the Illini upset #16 Auburn at Huff Hall, and they also unraveled #22 Minnesota at the Big Ten Championships. Thus far, Illinois is 6-8 against ranked opponents, and after this weekend's regional competition, Illinois will have competed against 14 of the teams currently in the top-25.

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 later that 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 on March 17 for her final performance at Huff Hall. In addition, sophomore Kim Kruk has been hampered as of late, keeping her from competing in the all-around in four of the last six meets, but she is expected to be back at full strength at regionals.

Six Gymnasts Named Academic All-Big Ten
Six Illinois gymnasts were named to the 2006-07 Academic All-Big Ten team earlier this in March. Marijka Botterman, Julie Crall, Kim Kruk, Michelle McGrady, Cara Pomeroy and Lindsey Smith were all honored for having at least a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average and earning a varsity letter in gymnastics.

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 in addition to meet previews, recaps and statistics.

Up Next
Illinois hopes to one of the two South Central Regional teams to advance to the 2007 National Collegiate Championships April 26-28 in Salt Lake City, Utah.