CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois men's and women's gymnastics teams competed in the 20th annual Mixed Pairs exhibition meet on Friday night in front of a crowd of 763 electric fans at Huff Hall. One member from each squad paired up to form teams and compete against each other. They performed their best four events for the crowd with the top three scores counting toward the team total.
For the second year in a row, the Orange and Blue were judged by their fellow Illinois student-athletes from various teams such as wrestling, soccer, golf, volleyball and track. Six gymnasts received perfect 10.0s form their peers including junior Danye Botterman(floor exercise), sophomores Kystal Melcarek (floor exercise) and Michelle McGrady(floor exercise), freshman Julie Crall (balance beam) and seniors Adam Pummer (floor exercise) and Justin Spring (high bar).
"I thought the guys performed really well," men's head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "I was anxious to see how they would respond in their first meet of the year and I was pleased with how consistent they executed their routines."
Senior Anthony Russo and Crall tied for first place with Pummer and junior Cara Pomeroy with scores of 29.5. Both teams looked like they were in midseason form, scoring 9.9 and higher.
Women's head coach Bob Starkell was impressed with the performances of freshmen Ursula Orozco and Crall,
"You could tell they were a little nervous when the meet began," said Starkell. "But they kept their composure and performed very well.
"We knew Julie would be able to come in here and be a solid all-arounder. This performance tonight shows that she has a bright collegiate future ahead of her."
Rounding out the top three was freshman Chris Lung and Danye Botterman who combined for a score of 29.75. Lung, the 2005 Junior Olympic National pommel horse champion contributed with a 9.9 on high bar while Botterman's 9.85 helped them edge out redshirt freshman Michael Boyer and Orozco (29.65).
An equipment malfunction to the still rings during warm ups forced some teams to compete on a different apparatus.
Both squads begin the regular season on the road. The women kick things off Jan. 6 in Gainesville, Fla., against the University of Florida while the men head to the Windy City Invite on Jan. 14. The men and women open their home schedule with a co-ed meet on Jan. 21. The women will take on Maryland while the men face Minnesota.
