March 25, 2003
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Championship Preview
The University of Illinois will welcome six other Big Ten schools to Huff Hall this weekend for the 2003 Big Ten Women's Gymnastic Championships. Competition will get under way at 6 p.m. This marks the 22nd year for the women's champioships. Illinois has not hosted the conference meet since 1995, when it hosted both the men's and women's championships together.
The four-time defending champion Michigan Wolverines enter the meet as the favorite. The Wolverines have won 10 of the last 11 Big Ten Titles and enter this weekend as the top ranked conference team by holding down the 10th spot in the latest GymInfo rankings with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 196.780. Michigan is led by All-American Calli Ryals, who enters the meet as the nations fourth ranked floor competitor (9.955) and 19th ranked all-arounder (39.435). Jenny Deily, who currently ranks 14th nationally in the all-around (39.475) and Janessa Grieco, the reigning Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, will also be in the hunt of the all-around title for the Wolverines. Former U.S. Olympic team captain and current Michigan junior Elise Ray will not compete in the meet due to injury.
If Michigan is to get its fifth straight title though, it won't be easy, as #14 Ohio State (196.355 RQS), #17 Iowa (196.210 RQS) and #21 Minnesota (195.960), the last team to win the title other than Michigan, will all be putting pressure on the Wolverines. The Buckeyes boast the league's top two beam competitors in Tiffanie Janke (9.905) and Elizabeth Meaney (9.905), while Iowa junior Alexis Maday, last year's Big Ten floor champion, currently ranks second in the country on bars (9.935). Minnesota is led by Carolyn Yernberg, who is ranked 15th in the nation on floor (9.925).
Penn State could also make some noise as they feature one of the top gymnasts in the country in senior Katie Rowland. Rowland, who claimed the 2001 Big Ten Gymanst of the Year honors, currently ranks 6th in the country in the all-around (39.570 RQS) and tied for sixth on the vault (9.940 RQS).
Michigan State and Illinois have both been peaking as of late and could be in the mix as well. The Spartans set a new school record of 196.575 in their final regular season meet last weekend and were narrowly defeated by Michigan. Illinois, meanwhile, posted its third best score in school history, a 195.750, last week at the State of Illinois Classic. Fighting Illini junior Kara Kapernekas set a new school all-around record by scoring 39.375. The Illini also feature reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Ashley Williams.
Live Scoring
Live scoring for the Championships will be available on the Big Ten website at www.bigten.org. Scores will be updated at the end of each rotation.
Tickets On Sale Now
Tickets for the 2003 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships are $5 for adults and $2 for students and children. They can be purchased at the door or by calling the Illinois ticket office at 1-866-ILLINI-1.
Illini On Television
The 2003 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net Chicago on a tape delay basis. Mike Leiderman and Wendy Wilkinson call the action as the competition airs on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. and Friday, April 11 at noon.
Illinois At The Big Ten Championships
Last season, the fighting Illini finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships with a score of 192.825. Ashley Williams earned All-Big Ten honors and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after she scored a 39.125 in the all-around to take third place. She was the first Illini to be named to the all-conference team since 1999.
Recently, the Illini have been on a Big Ten title drought. Illinois' last individual title came in 1999 when Gina Wiechmann tied for the top spot on the balance beam with a score of 9.875. Illinois' last team title came in 1990 when the Illini scored a 187.750 to take the conference crown. Head Coach Bev Mackes earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors for her outstanding efforts.
Illini Rewriting The Record Books
So far this season, the Illini have done their part to re-write the school's gymnastics records books. One school record has been broken and four others have been equaled thus far. Last week, Kara Kapernekas set a new all-around mark by totaling 39.375 at the State of Illinois Classic. The score eclipsed the previous mark of 39.350, which was shared by Phaedra Dixon, who established the mark in 2000, and Ashley Williams who equaled that number earlier this year. At that same meet, sophomore Jessica Cole tied Nicole Viernes' vault record of 9.925. Earlier in the year against Iowa, Kapernekas and Amanda Kaufman both tied Dixon's floor exercise mark by posting identical 9.950's.
In additon, the Illini tied the team beam mark by scoring a 49.150 at the State of Illinois Classic and nearly claimed the vault record as well, by posting a 48.850, the second best ever at Illinois. The Orange and Blue's team score of 195.750 at the State meet is the third highest in school history and their score of 194.925 vs Auburn, Ball St. and NIU is the fifth best ever.
Let's Review
The Illini turned in their best performance of the season to take second place at the State of Illinois Classic last Sunday afternoon in DeKalb. Illinois' score of 195.750, the third highest in school history, edged Northern Illinois (195.650) for second. Illinois-Chicago won the 'Unofficial State Title' with a score of 196.800, while Illinois State was fourth with a total of 194.875.
The Fighting Illini's total of 49.150 on the balance beam tied the school record that was set in 2001. The Illini also excelled on the vault by posting a season-best score of 48.850, just missing the school record of 48.900. Jessica Cole scored a 9.925 to tie the Illinois vault record and take first place honors along with UIC's Alyson Cacciatore.
Kara Kapernekas had her second consecutive outstanding all-around performance on Sunday by establishing a new Illinois record with a total of 39.375. In addition to her career-best scores of 9.925 on beam and 9.825 vault, Kapernekas also posted scores of 9.750 on the uneven bars and 9.875 on the floor exercise to set the new school mark and take fourth place at the meet.
Kapernekas Coming On Strong
Coming into this season, junior Kara Kapernekas had never competed in the all-around for the Illini. This year, however, has been a different story as she is not only the lone team member to compete all-around at all 10 meets, but she has become the squads top all-arounder with an RQS of 38.990.
Kapernekas has been especially good as of late. On March 8 against Iowa she set a new career high of 39.275 while also tying the school floor exercise record with a 9.950 performance. She followed that up last weekend with a record breaking 39.375 performance at the State of Illinos Classic. At that meet she also shattered her previous personal best vault by .125 with a score of 9.825. This season, Kapernekas has set new career highs on all four events and the all-around.
Kauf - Medicine
Senoir co-captain Amanda Kaufman, who was limited to performing only on vault for four meets earlier in the season due to injury, is now back to full strength and seems to be peaking at the right time.
Always a consistent vaulter for the Illini, Kaufman has now begun to shine on the floor and beam as well. On March 8 vs. Iowa, the Long Grove, Ill. native performed a nearly flawless floor routine to earn a 9.950, tying the school record along with teammate Kara Kapernekas. Then last week at the State of Illinois Classic, Kaufman posted 9.900's on both the beam and floor to help boost the Illini to their third highest point total in school history. This season, Kaufman has scored at least a 9.800 in five of the six meets she has competed on the floor exercise.
Champaign Sara
Champaign native Sara Dumich has been one of the pleasant surprises on this year's team. In her second year as a walk-on on the gymnastics squad, Dumich has become one of the Orange and Blue's most consistent performers on the floor exercise. The Junior has scored at least a 9.750 in seven of the nine meets she has competed in, including the last five in a row. She established her career high of 9.850 at Michigan State on 2/22 to take fourth place.
Up Next
Following an off week, the Illini will head to Columbia, Mo. for the NCAA South Central Region Championships on Saturday, April 12 at 6 p.m.
