April 1, 2003
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A pair of Fighting Illini gymnasts, sophomore Ashley Williams (Northport, Ala./Tuscaloosa County HS) and junior Kara Kapernekas (Westchester, Ill., Immaculate Heart of Mary HS), have been selected to compete at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships on April 12 in Columbia, Mo. Although the team fell short of qualifying for the fourth straight year, both Williams and Kapernekas will be competing in the all-around at the meet.
"Both Kara and Ashley have worked extremely hard this season to get the team qualified for NCAA nationals," said Illinois Head Coach Bob Starkell. "Even though the goal of qualifying the team fell short, their commitment to practice and hard work has been tremendous and both are very deserving of their spots at the NCAA Regionals next week."
Williams will be making her second consecutive trip to Regionals. The sophomore has had an up and down year for the Illini, but is coming off a solid 39.250 performance at the Big Ten Championships. Earlier in the season, she set a career-high and tied the school all-around record by scoring a 39.350 against Minnesota and Illinois-Chicago. That record has since been broken by Kapernekas. Last year as a freshman, Williams competed all-around at the regional meet and struggled to a 16th place finish.
This will be the first regional appearance for Kapernekas. The junior has had an outstanding year for the Orange and Blue. At the State of Illinois Classic on March 23, Kapernekas broke the all-around school record by scoring a 39.375. One week earlier against Iowa, she tied the school floor exercise record by earning a 9.950. She is the only Illini to compete all-around at every meet this season.
"I like the chances for both Kara and Ashley to qualify on to the finals in Nebraska," Starkell said. "Each one has different strengths, but both Kara and Ashley have the talent to make it to Nationals. The competition will be extremely tough though. To move on, they'll need to have top performances."
The top two teams at the meet will qualify for the NCAA Championships held April 24-26 in Lincoln, Neb. In addition, the top two all-arounders that are not on qualifying teams will advance, as will the individual event winners, but only if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.
