Illini Head To California For Nationals
April 13, 2004 | Women's Gymnastics
April 13, 2004
Complete NCAA Championships Notes in PDF Format
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Pomeroy, Williams Earn National Bids
A pair of Illini, freshman Cara Pomeroy and junior Ashley Williams, will head to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships this weekend in Los Angeles, Ca. The two are the first Illinois national qualifiers since 1987, which was when Denise Lamborn qualfied in the all-around. This year, Williams will be gunning for the all-around crown, while Pomeroy will compete on the uneven bars after earning a perfect 10.0 at the South Central Region meet.
The Championships, which kick-off Thursday, April 15 with the team preliminaries and all-around finals, are being hosted at Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA. Williams and Pomeroy will both compete in Thursday's evening session (7 p.m. PT). The top three teams from each Thursday session will advance to the Super Six team finals on Friday, April 16 (7 p.m. PT) and the top four individuals on each event (including ties) from Thursday's competition will move onto Saturday's event finals (7 p.m. PT).
Championships Schedule
Wednesday, April 14 - Practice Sessions
3 p.m. (PT) - Event Specialist Practice Session
Thursday, April 15 - Team Preliminaries and All-Around Finals
1 p.m. (PT) - Session I - Stanford, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, Georgia, Nebraska
7 p.m. (PT) - Session II - UCLA, Arizona State, Utah, LSU, Alabama, Michigan
Friday, April 16 - Super Six Team Finals - 7 p.m. (PT)
* Top three teams from each of Thursday's sessions
Saturday, April 17 - Individual Event Finals - 7 p.m. (PT)
** Top four individuals on each event (plus ties) from each of Thurday's sessions
Illini To Rotate With Top-Ranked UCLA
In a random draw conducted by the NCAA, Williams and Pomeroy will both be rotating with UCLA, who was given the Olympic order during the preliminaries, starting on vault and ending on floor exercise. UCLA, in addition to being the host school, finished the regular season ranked No. 1 and is the defending National Champion. The Bruins have won four of the last seven NCAA titles.
Rotation Order for Thursday's Evening Session (9 p.m. CT)
*Williams and Pomeroy will rotate with UCLA
Rotation Vault Bye I Bars Beam Bye II Floor
1 UCLA* ASU Utah LSU Ala. Mich.
2 Mich. UCLA* ASU Utah LSU Ala.
3 Ala. Mich. UCLA* ASU Utah LSU
4 LSU Ala. Mich. UCLA* ASU Utah
5 Utah LSU Ala. Mich. UCLA* ASU
6 ASU Utah LSU Ala. Mich. UCLA*
Illinois At The National Championships
Illinois' doesn't exactly have a deep history at the NCAA Championships. The Illini have never qualified as a team and Pomeroy and Williams are the first individual qualifiers in 17 years - just the fourth and fifth since the NCAA began sponsoring the event in 1982. Prior to 1982, when nationals were sponsored by the AIAW, UI had five individuals compete at the national meet, including 1972 Olympian Nancy Thies, who finished sixth on the uneven bars in 1976 to become the only women's gymnastics All-American in Illinois history.
Live Scoring
Live scoring for the National Collegiate Championhips we be available at the UCLA website (www.uclabruins.com) and at the NCAA website (www.ncaasports.com).
CBS To Televise Champoinships
CBS will televise the National Championships on a tape-delay basis. The meet, which is scheduled to air on Saturday, May 1 from Noon-2 p.m. (CT), will be called by Bonnie Bernstein and Amanda Borden, with sideline reporting by Tracy Wolfson.
Pomeroy Scores Perfect 10.0 At Regionals
Freshman Cara Pomeroy made history at the South Central Regional meet by performing a perfect uneven bars routine to earn the first 10.0 in Illinois gymnsatics history. She recieved a 10.0 from three of the four judges and a 9.95 from the other. The high and low were thrown out and the average of the remaining two was a 10. Pomeroy's perfect score was the only one of the meet and was one of only three 10.0's in any of the six regional meets - the other two were on vault by UCLA's Jeanette Antolin and Jamie Dantzscher, who are both former U.S. National Team members. The Ottawa, Ontario native became Illinois' first individual Regional Champion since Olympian Nancy Thies won the vault, floor, beam and all-around at the 1977 AIAW Regional Meet.
Success is nothing new for the Illini rookie. A former three-time Canadian National Bars Champion, Pomeroy has had a stellar freshman campaign at Illinois. The win at regionals was her 10th event title of the season - her seventh on bars - and marked the 10th time in the last 11 meets that she scored at least a 9.85 on the event. She has also won three titles on the balance beam this season, an event on which she finshed tied for fifth at regionals with a score of 9.875. She finished the regular season ranked 35th in the nation on bars (9.895 RQS) and fifth in the South Central Region.
Bama Breaks All-Around Mark
Alabama native Ashley Williams joined teammate Cara Pomeroy as Illinois' first national meet qualifiers in 17 years when she posted an all-around score of 39.275 to finish seventh overall and second amongst teams that did not advance out the South Central Regional Championships. The junior posted a career-high of 9.925 on the bars - which tied for fifth place - and scored 9.825 on beam, 9.800 on vault and 9.725 on floor to earn the trip to Los Angeles.
The 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year has won six event titles this season, two in the all-around - with scores 39.225 and 39.475 - and recently posted a solid score of 39.325 at the State of Illinois Classic to take second place. Her score of 39.475 against Ball State on 2/21 broke teammate Kara Kapernekas's school record of 39.375 by a full tenth. In that meet, Williams not only set the all-around mark, but also set or tied career-highs in winning the vault (9.850) and beam (9.900) in addition to taking second on bars (9.825) and floor (9.900). She finished the regular season ranked 92nd in the nation in the all-around (38.990 RQS).
Williams, Pomeroy Earn All-Big Ten Accolades
Junior Ashley Williams and freshman Cara Pomeroy were both voted to the All-Big Ten Conference second team by the coaches. It is the third time Williams has been named to one of the all-conference teams. She was a first team selection in 2002 and a second-team pick in 2003. Iowa's Alexis Maday took home Gymnast of the Year honors, Michigan State's Victoria Iakounina was Freshman of the Year, and there was a three-way tie for Coach of the Year, with Iowa's Mike Lorenzen, Michigan's Bev Plocki and Michigan State's Kathie Klages sharing the honor.
Quoting Coach Starkell
On rotating with UCLA and Williams' and Pomeroy's chances to advance...
"I felt good about Ashley and Cara's chances, especially once I found out they were rotating with the host team. I think it's an advantage because UCLA will have a large crowd and they usually back up the individuals that rotate with them. Having the evening session and Olympic Rotation - you can't ask for a better pick than that because that's exactly what we do at home. The aspect that they're rotating together is probably the hugest factor because they won't be totally by themselves. It will be good for them to have a teammate there so they don't feel like they're out there alone. In the all-around, I think Ashley is just as talented and will be able to hang with most people. Cara will need to have a bars set just like she had at regionals to be able to move on to event finals - which she certainly can do."
Records Were Made To Be Broken
Thus far in 2004, Illinois has set or tied four team records and three individual marks. Last week at the South Central regional meet, the Orange and Blue shattered the team uneven bars record with a total of 49.475, bettering the old record of 49.225 by .250. Cara Pomeroy's school-record 10.0 performance led the way and Ashley Williams' 9.925 would have tied the old school record, which was held by Pomeroy, Kelli Farrar and Natialie Forsthoefel.
At the State of Illinois Classic, the Illini topped the team scoring record of 196.150 with a 196.300 to easliy win the meet. The vault team also set a school mark at the meet, scoring 49.000 to top the old mark of 48.900. Two weeks later at the Big Ten Championships, the Illini scored a 49.175 on beam to break the old record of 49.150. Individually, Ashley Williams broke the UI all-around record by a full tenth when she scored a 39.475 against Ball State to top teammate Kara Kapernekas's former record of 39.375. Kapernekas still owns a piece of the floor mark though. She scored a 9.950 on floor for the second time in her career earlier this season and shares the record with Amanda Kaufman, and Phaedra Dixon.
In additioin, the Orange and Blue's Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 195.245 was the highest in school history. Their Big Ten score of 195.400 was the highest ever at the conference championship and, coupled with the identical regional score of 195.400, is tied for the the second higest road score in school history, behind only the 195.750 the team put up at the 2003 State of Illinois Classic. Including the school record score set at this year's State meet, six of the top-10 scores in school history have come this season.
2004 Scores in the Illinois All-time Top-10
1. 196.300 State of Illinois Classic 3/13/04
5. 195.700 vs. Michigan State 1/25/04
7. 195.450 vs. Ball State 2/21/04
8t. 195.400 at South Central Regional 4/3/04
8t. 195.400 at Big Ten Championships 3/20/04
10. 194.925 vs. Iowa State 2/14/04
Eight Illini Named To Academic All-Big Ten Team
Eight UI women's gymnasts were recently named to the Big Ten Academic All-Conference team, which tied for the most among the seven schools that sponsor teams. Senior Lindsay Ransom (3.465 - Sports Management), juniors Margaret Dann (3.005 - Psychology), Sara Dumich (3.667 - Kinesiology), Lauren Newcomb (3.325 - Economics) and Ashley Williams (3.162- Psychology), and sophomores Emily Earle (3.933 - Kinesiology), Kim Kirzow (3.454 - Kinesiology) and Katie Wild (3.703 - Spanish) were all recognized for earning a varsity letter and maintaining at least a 3.0 grade point average.
Quoting Coach Starkell
On what what it means for the program to take this step to nationals...
"We are at stage now where we can physically see the improvement as a team, and with that improvement, the level of expectations goes up at the same time. I think the most exciting thing is that this team comes back next year almost fully intact and we'll have the addition of three very strong athletes. Now we have the opportunity to show recruits and fans that we're a program on the rise."
