April 8, 2003
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Williams and Kapernekas Receive Regional Bids
A pair of Fighting Illini gymnasts will head to Columbia, Mo. for the NCAA South Central Regional Championships this Saturday. Sophomore Ashley Williams (Northport, Ala./Tuscaloosa County HS) and junior Kara Kapernekas (Westchester, Ill., Immaculate Heart of Mary HS), were selected for the meet based on their performances throughout the season and will be competing in the all-around.
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. That experience though, should help her this year.
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 despite battling a back injury for much of the year.
The top two teams at the meet will qualify for the NCAA Championships held April 24-26 in Lincoln, Neb. The teams competing at the South Central Regional include No. 1 UCLA, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 13 Iowa, No. 19 Arizona, No. 26 Missouri and No. 34 Illinois-Chicago. The top two all-arounders that are not on qualifying teams will advance to nationals, as will the individual event winners, but only if they are not part of a qualifying team and are not an all-around qualifier.
All-Around Ashley
Sophomore Ashley Williams has been a constant force in the Illinois line-up over the past two seasons. The Northport, Alabama native has competed in the all-around in 24 of 25 meets thoughout her career, including all 14 last season. The only meet she did not compete all-around was this year's season opener in the Bahamas, where injuries limited her to only bars and beam.
Williams finshed third at the Big Ten Championships in the all-around last season and advanced to the Regional Championships as the top individual qualifier. This season, got off to a slow start, but got back on track with a school record tying 39.350 against Minnesota and Illinois-Chicago. From that point on, she scored at least a 39.125 in four of the team's final six meets, including a 39.250 at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.
Consistent Kara
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 11 meets, but she has become the squads most consistent all-arounder with an RQS of 38.990.
Kapernekas was especially good at the close of the season. 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 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.
Let's Review
Illinois finished sixth at the 2003 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championshipsin front of 1,198 fans at Huff Hall two weeks ago. Michigan set a season high with 197.450 points to win its fifth consecutive conference title. Iowa finished second with 196.850 points and Penn State was third with a score of 196.650. Minnesota finished fourth (195.425) followed by Ohio State (194.975), Illinois (193.575), and Michigan State (193.425). It was the first time that University of Illinois hosted the Big Ten Championships since 1995.
Illinois sophomore Ashley Williams, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, had an outstanding conference meet once again. The Northport, Alabama native hit on all four events and posted an all-around score of 39.250 to place 10th in a loaded field. Williams tied a career-high on the uneven bars with a 9.900 to tie for fourth place and her balance beam score of 9.850 tied her for eighth place. Williams also led the way for the Orange and Blue on the floor and vault. Her floor performance of 9.775 led the team, and she and senior Amanda Kaufman paced the Illini vaulters with identical 9.725's.
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. On March 23, 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.
