Feb. 9, 2007

The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday night to face its toughest competition to date. After steadily improving their score in each of the first four meets, the Illini took a step back on Friday, struggling to a score of 192.525 to finish third behind No. 8 Michigan (195.825) and No. 6 Nebraska (195.350).

Freshman Nicole Cowart was the bright spot for the Illini, tying or setting three career-bests on the way to three fourth-place finishes. Cowart set a new career-high on vault (9.875), and tied her personal best scores on the balance beam (9.775) and in the all-around (39.125) to take fourth place on each event in the loaded field. Additionally, sophomore Julie Crall shattered her career-high on vault with a 9.850 to take fifth place and sophomore Marijka Botterman took sixth in the all-around with a total of 38.325.

"I felt like we lacked excitement and energy tonight, which led to our shaky performance," said Fighting Illini head coach Bob Starkell. "This was surprising because we had been doing so well and improving each week. Nicole (Cowart) had a solid meet and Julie (Crall) had a nice vault, but we just have to keep working hard and forget about this one."

Illinois started off with a shaky performance on the floor exercise, posting a team total of 48.025. From there the Illini moved to the vault, where they were forced to count a fall and posted a team score of 48.425, their highest event score of the night. The Illini scored a 48.325 on the uneven bars in rotation three before heading to the balance beam for the final rotation. The beam had been Illinois' top event this season, but it was not kind to the Illini tonight as they counted two falls and posted their lowest event score of the night, 47.750.

The Illini return to action on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m. when they travel to East Lansing, Mich. to face the Michigan State Spartans.