May 21, 2007

2007 ILLINOIS GYMNASTICS SEASON WRAP-UP

#20 Final National Ranking
3rd place at Big Ten Championships
4th place at NCAA South Central Regional
9-8 Regular Season Record

Quick Hits
• Magic #20: Illinois finished the season ranked 20th in the GymInfo Rankings, marking the highest final ranking in program history.

• Illini Equal Best Regional Finish: Illinois took fourth place at the 2007 NCAA South Central Regional, equaling the highest finish ever for the Illini at regionals for the seventh time.

• Starkell Named Regional Coach of the Year: Head coach Bob Starkell was named South Central Region Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons. He also won the honor in 2005.

• Pommie Ends UI Title Drought: 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.

• Pomeroy Finalist for American Award: Senior tri-captain Cara Pomeroy was one of six finalists for the American Award, which is awarded annually to a senior female gymnast who has best demonstrated her competitive, leadership, academic and community skills throughout her career.

Regional Championship Review
Illinois finished fourth at the NCAA South Central Regional in Tucson, Ariz., with a score of 194.625. The finish equaled the best-ever regional finish for the Illini, a feat they've accomplished six times before. Michelle McGrady was the top UI finisher, tying for second on vault with a 9.850, narrowly missing out on advancing to NCAAs. Cara Pomeroy was unable to repeat the perfect 10.0 she received on the uneven bars at the 2004 South Central Regional in Tucson, but she still managed a 9.825 on the event to take fourth place. Nicole Cowart tied for fifth on uneven bars (9.800) and was eighth in the all-around (39.050). No. 4 Stanford (196.600) and No. 8 Oregon State (196.075) finished first and second to advance to the NCAA Championships held April 26-28 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Host and 15th-ranked Arizona (196.025) finished third and just missed qualifying, while Illinois topped No. 25 Arizona State (194.375) and No. 36 IIlinois-Chicago (190.925) as the pre-meet seeds held to form.

Illini Thrive at Big Tens
Illinois finished third at the 2007 Big Ten Championships 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 ahead 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 at 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 Rake In Academic Honors
Six Illinois gymnasts were named to the 2006-07 Academic All-Big Ten team 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. In addition, Pomeroy was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District At-Large Second Team with a 3.75 GPA in kinesiology.

Team Reaches Highest RQS Ranking Ever
While Illinois finished the season ranked 20th, its highest final ranking ever, it climbed as high as No. 19 after the March 11 meet at Denver, marking the highest national ranking the Illini have ever attained based on RQS. The Illini were ranked 33rd after the first week of competition, and moved up gradually during the first 10 weeks of the season. The Illini ranked 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.

Pomeroy finishes Career as One of Best in UI History
Cara Pomeroy finished her stellar Illini career as one of the top gymnasts in school history. Though struggled early in the season on the uneven bars, her top event, she rebounded like the champion that she is, winning the event in seven of the last nine meets, including back-to-back 9.950s to take event titles at the State of Illinois Classic and Big Ten Championship. That score equals the second-highest bars score in school history, behind only her own 10.0, which won the event at the 2004 South Central Regional Championship.

Her return to form on bars helped her jump from 100th to 7th in the national rankings over the last four weeks of the season, and finished the regular season with the top ranking in the South Central Region with an event RQS of 9.910 on bars. Pomeroy won the uneven bars in seven meets, and also won three beam titles on the season, giving her 10 individual titles this season and 41 for her illustrious career.

Pomeroy was one of six finalists for the prestigious American Award, which is awarded annually to a senior female gymnast who has best demonstrated her competitive, leadership, academic and community skills throughout her career. She was also a second team All-Big Ten selection and became the first Illini ever to earn all-conference accolades in each of her four seasons (First team in 2005 and 2006 and second team in 2004 and 2007).

Suki's Smooth
Freshman Nicole Cowart, who goes by the nickname `Suki', showed no signs of inexperience in her first season with the Orange and Blue. Competing all-around in every meet, Cowart tied with Cara Pomeroy for the team lead with 10 event titles, including three all-around crowns. She placed fourth in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships, and vs. UIC on March 17 she was a double event winner for the third time on the season season, taking vault and floor titles.

At the NCAA South Central Regional she had top-10 finishes in three events and the all-around, where she took eighth with a 39.000. In the meet at Denver on March 11, she posted a season-high of 39.200 in the all-around and is the only Illini to win at least one event title on all four individual events and in the all-around this season. She was ranked in the top-100 nationally on vault and in the all-around at the end of the regular season.

Schmidt Shines As Well
Cowart isn't the only freshman that made noise in her rookie season for the Orange and Blue. Fellow frosh Sarah Schmidt was 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 at the end of the season, Schmidt stepped up and competed all-around in four of the last five meets, taking third twice before finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championship. She was a double-winner (bars and floor) at Illinois State on March 4 and was named the team's Most Improved Gymnast after the season.

Youth Served
Not only did the 2007 season end up as a great one, but the future also looks bright for the Orange and Blue. At the NCAA South Central Regional only two of 24 routines (Pomeroy on bars and beam) were by a senior, and 18 of the 24 were by freshmen of sophomores. Before sophomore Julie Crall went down with an Achilles injury on March 9, 20 of the 24 Illini routines were by freshmen and sophomores. After Crall went down, juniors Krystal Melcarek and Michelle McGrady, and freshman Sarah Schmidt stepped in on extra events.

Illinois leaves mark on record books
Illinois broke one school record in 2007 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 posted five of the top-8 vault scores in school history on the season. They 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 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 box on the right side of this page.

Tough Schedule Toughens Up Illini
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 nine ranked foes in the regular season. The young Illini responded by topping three higher-ranked foes, #19 Ohio State, #18 Michigan State and #16 Auburn. Illinois also topped the Buckeyes and Spartans, ranked #20 and #19, respectively, and #22 Minnesota at the Big Ten Championships, and then topped No. 25 Arizona State at Regionals to bring the total number of ranked victims to seven. Overall on the season, Illinois was 7-11 against ranked opponents, and competed against 14 teams that appeared in the final top-25.

Injury Report
The injury bug hit the Illini hard in 2007, as four individuals missed significant time. Below is the breakdown of the major setbacks the Orange and Blue overcame during the season.

• Julie Crall: The sophomore standout 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 the 2008 season, but her loss certainly impacted the Illini for the remainder of the season.

• Danye Botterman: Senior tri-captain Danye Botterman, a regular on three events during her first three seasons, missed nearly all of her final season recovering from a foot injury she suffered at the end of the 2006 campaign. 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 in the final home meet at Huff Hall, but was limited in practice and difficulty due to the injury.

• Melissa Singer: Senior tri-captain Melissa Singer missed the entire season recovering from a foot injury.

• Lori Hamilton: Freshman Lori Hamilton missed entire 2006-07 campaign recovering from a back injury.

The Future
Illinois signed three talented student-athletes to letters of intent for the 2007-08 season. Allison Buckley of Conant High School in Schaumburg, Ill. and Melissa Fernandez of Eudora High School in Eudora, Kan. signed with the Orange and Blue in November, while Samantha Perino of Tabb High School in Yorktown, Va. signed with Illinois in April. Buckley competed for Gymkhana Gymnastics, Fernandez for KGDC and Perino for Ocean Tumblers.