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Gymnasts Celebrate Outstanding Season at Annual Awards Banquet
May 3, 2007 2007 Women's Gymnastics Season Wrap-up (PDF) Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics teams gathered at Kennedy's at Stone Creek Wednesday evening for its annual awards banquet, celebrating season accomplishments and saying goodbye to seniors Danye Botterman, Cara Pomeroy and Melissa Singer. Pomeroy (Ottawa, Ont./Napean) was named team MVP for the second straight year, freshman Nicole Cowart (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) took home Most Outstanding Gymnast honors and several other awards were handed out as the team and staff celebrated a record-breaking season. Pomeroy was voted MVP for her all-around role with the team, serving as a rock in competition and a leader in the team captain role for the past two years. In the gym, Pomeroy will go down as one of the best gymnasts in Illinois history after winning the 2007 Big Ten uneven bars title with a near-perfect 9.950, and scoring the only perfect 10.0 in school history to win the 2004 NCAA South Central Regional bars crown. Pomeroy was named a second team All-Big Ten selection this year to become the first Illini to earn All-Big Ten accolades in each of her four seasons (first team in 2005 and 2006, second team in 2004 and 2007). She was also named as a finalist for the prestigious American Award, which is a national award given annually to the senior female gymnast who has best demonstrated her competitive, leadership, academic and community skills throughout her collegiate career. Pomeroy was also honored for her work in the classroom, winning the team's Scholar-Athlete Award with a 3.75 G.P.A. in kinesiology.
Cowart was voted Most Outstanding by her teammates after a stellar rookie campaign that saw her compete all-around in all 14 meets and earn first team All-Big Ten honors. She tied with Pomeroy for the team lead with 10 individual event titles, winning at least one on all four events and in the all-around. She was the Illini's top all-arounder at the Big Ten Championships, placing fourth overall, and she posted top-10 finishes in four events at the South Central Regional, including a fifth place on the uneven bars and eighth place in the all-around. Cowart also won the team's Most Consistent Beam Award after hitting 14-of-14 routines on the balance beam this season, mostly in the lead-off role. Freshman Sarah Schmidt (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) took home Most Improved honors after gradually seeing her role and production increase throughout the season. She competed in two events in each of the first two meets, and then saw action in three events for the next seven meets before becoming an all-arounder in four of the last five competitions. She won four event titles on the season and had 20 top-three finishes, including second place on the uneven bars with a career-high 9.900 at the Big Ten Championships to finish behind only teammate Cara Pomeroy. She also took sixth in the all-around at Big Tens and finished third in the all-around at the State of Illinois Classic, scoring a 39.000 in just her second career all-around performance.
The Fighting Illini women enjoyed a stellar 2007 season. They finished the season ranked 20th in the final GymInfo rankings, the highest final ranking in school history, and took third place at the Big Ten Championships, the team's best finish at the conference meet since 1990. At Big Ten's, Pomeroy became Illinois' first conference event champion since 1999 to lead the squad to a team bars score of 49.300, the second best score in Illinois history. In addition, the Orange and Blue's fourth place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional equaled the best regional finish in school history and head coach Bob Starkell picked up Regional Coach of the Year honors. The Illini also broke the school vault record with a 49.125 vs. UIC on March 17 and posted 13 scores that rank in the all-time top-10 in school history, including three of the top-10 overall team scores. 2007 Illinois Women's Gymnastics Team Awards
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