April 24, 2008

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2008 Women's Gymnastics All-Americans

ATHENS, Ga. - Freshman Allison Buckley became Illinois' first NCAA All-American by tying for sixth place on the balance beam during Thursday's afternoon session of the 2008 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens Ga. Buckley and sophomore Nicole Cowart both competed in the all-around, with Buckley taking part in the first session of the day and Cowart the second.

Buckley, rotating with Alabama, had the tough task of starting competition on the balance beam, however, the freshman showed no signs of nerves, hitting her routine for a 9.825. That score held on to tie for sixth place through five more rotations, earning her second team All-America honors. Only a small step on her dismount prevented the Shaumburg, Ill., native from finishing in the top-four and advancing to Saturday's individual event finals.

Gymnasts that place 1-4 (including ties) on each event in each of the day's sessions advance to event finals and are named first team All-Americans. Those that place 5-8 on each event in each session are named second team All-Americans. Former Olympian Nancy Thies was an AIAW All-American on the uneven bars for Illinois in 1976, before the NCAA held women's championships, but Buckley is the first Illini to collect the honor at the NCAA Championships.

Following the beam and a bye, Buckley moved to the floor exercise where she turned in a solid 9.775 performance despite her music stopping several times. On vault she executed beautiful Yurchenko full but stumbled a bit on the landing to earn a 9.725. After another bye, Buckley moved to the uneven bars where she turned in a solid set, but fell on her dismount and earned a 9.200, taking her out of All-America contention in the all-around. Her all-around score of 38.525 placed 18th in the session.

Buckley has already been showered with accolades this season. She was named South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first team All-Big Ten this season, and she and Cowart became just the sixth and seventh UI individuals to compete at the NCAA Championships.

Cowart, rotating with Denver, put together an impressive 38.925 all-around performance to finish 15th in the evening session. She began on vault and posted a 9.600 to get things started. After a bye, the Greenwood, Ind., native turned things up a notch with her best performance of the night, a 9.800 on bars. She then kept things rolling with a solid 9.750 on beam, which tied for 23rd place. Then after another bye she finished off strong with a 9.775 on floor.

Buckley and Cowart earned the trip to nationals by tying for third in the all-around at the South Central Regional. Together, they are just the sixth and seventh Illini to qualify individually to the NCAA Championships since it began sponsoring the event in 1982.

In the team competition, Florida (196.900), Alabama (196.650) and LSU (196.575) advanced to Friday's Super Six out of the afternoon session, while host Georgia (197.625), Utah (196.950) and Stanford (196.900) advanced out of the evening session.

Illinois Quotes

Head Coach Bob Starkell on Buckley's All-America performance...
"For Allison to earn All-America status as a freshman is a testament to her tremendous abilities. And for it to be on her first event of the day, where the scores are usually tighter, just shows you how good of a beam-worker she is. I think this is another big step for our program and brings us closer to our overall goal of bringing our entire team to nationals next season."

Starkell on the experience gained by Buckley and Cowart...
"We couldn't have picked two better student-athletes to represent the University of Illinois here in Georgia. Allison and Nicole are two of our strongest leaders and they got a good perspective of how our team stacks up against some of the best in the country. The both performed well and now they know what it takes for the whole team to earn a trip to next year's Championships."

Freshman Allison Buckley on becoming an All-American...
"It's exciting to be the first All-American at Illinois. I thought I did a good routine, but scoring was tight, so I wasn't sure if it would hold up through the whole meet. I liked starting on beam because it's a pressure-packed event. It was nerve-wracking to finish on beam at Big Tens and Regionals, but today it was nice to get it out of the way early."

Buckley on her experience at nationals...
Overall, being here at nationals has been an incredible experience. We've had a chance to see that we can compete at this level and we'll definitely take it back to the rest of the team so we can all make it here together next year."

Sophomore Nicole Cowart on her performance...
"I was a little nervous, especially being here without the whole team, but I just wanted to hit 4-for-4 and represent the University of Illinois to the best of my ability and I think I did that.

Cowart on what she can take from the experience...
"I think for Allison and I, this experience will motivate us for next year because we don't want to be here again on our own, we want all of our teammates with us. I think we saw that we can compete with some of the teams here and are capable of earning a team bid. We were close this year, but now we've seen what it takes and are hungry to make it happen next year."

Illinois at the 2008 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships
April 24-26 // Athens, Ga.

Allison Buckley - All-Around // Session I
Vault - 9.725 (t31)
Bars - 9.200 (42)
*Beam - 9.825 (t6) - 2nd Team All-American
Floor - 9.775 (t31)
AA - 38.525 (18th)

Nicole Cowart - All-Around // Session II
*Vault - 9.600 (40)
Bars - 9.800 (t30)
Beam - 9.750 (t23)
Floor - 9.775 (t30)
AA - 38.925 (15)

* Starting event