Feb. 6, 2008
No. 24 Illinois at IGI "Chicago Style" Invite (No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Stanford, Washington)
Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 // 7 p.m. // Navy Pier // Chicago, Ill.
Tickets will be available at the event for $10
Livescoring available at www.fightingillini.com
Meet details available at www.chicagostylemeet.com
The Meet
The No. 24 Fighting Illini will head up to the Windy City this Friday to host the first "Chicago Style" collegiate invitational at 7 p.m. CT at Navy Pier. The meet is part of the Illinois Gymnastics Institute (IGI) "Chicago Style" Club Gymnastics Meet, which is one of the largest women's gymnastics invitationals in the world. The collegiate meet, which is new to the schedule this year, will feature the Fighting Illini along with No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Stanford and Washington. Illinois, as the host, will compete in regular olympic order, starting on vault and ending on floor.
Three of the four teams competing in this weekend's meet have athletes who trained at the IGI- Kim Kruk for Illinois, Kelly Fe and Liz Tricase for Stanford, and Kristina Comforte for UCLA.
In the Rankings
The Illini are currently ranked No. 24 in the GymInfo rankings, up one spot from last week, and are seventh in the South Central Region. After ending the 2007 season at No. 20, Illinois came into this year as the 23rd-ranked team in the nation, marking the highest preseason ranking in Illinois history. It marked the second time that the Illini have been in the nation's top-25 heading into a season, the last being in 1999 when the Illini were ranked 25th to start the season. The Illini have been ranked as high as No. 19 this season (after week one). Junior Julie Crall is currently ranked 6th in the nation and 3rd in the South Central Region on beam with a 9.844 average.
Sizing up the Competition
UCLA comes into this weekend's quad meet as the ninth-ranked team in the country with a 7-0 record and a season average of 195.531. Washington enters the competition with a 1-3 record and a 192.575 season average. The Bruins and Huskies met last weekend in a dual meet in Seattle, Wash., with UCLA coming out on top by a score of 195.975-194.425. Stanford enters its fourth meet of the year as the 11th-ranked team in the country with a season average of 195.258. The Cardinal also squared off with UCLA earlier this season with the Bruins escaping by the slightest of margins (195.050-195.025) in Los Angeles.
Looking Back
Last weekend, the Illini posted their season-high score of 194.975, but it wasn't enough to top No. 13 Denver (195.850). Illinois posted a season-high vault score of 49.000, tying the fifth highest vault score in program history. The Illini also posted their top scores of the season on bars (48.925), beam (48.375) and floor (48.675). Freshman Allison Buckley led the Illini with event titles on vault (9.900), bars (9.825) and floor (9.925), while junior Julie Crall captured her third straight beam crown with a career-high tying score of 9.900. Overall, Illini set or tied 11 career highs and 17 season highs on the night.
Crall-ing Back
Junior Julie Crall returned this year after suffering a season-ending Achilles' tear on March 9 of last season. Crall had been a top performer for the Illini in each of her first two seasons earning her Second Team All-Big Ten honors in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns. Last weekend against Denver, Crall won her third straight beam title, with a career-high tying score of 9.900. She currently ranks 6th in the nation on beam (9.844 average), and has also been competing bars for the Illini, earning a career-high 9.700 at Iowa.
Buckley off to Blazing Start
Freshman Allison Buckley has wasted no time making a name for herself in the Illini program. The Schaumburg, Ill. native has competed in the all-around competition in every meet this year, capturing eight individual titles and 11 top-3 finishes. Last week against Denver, she led the Illini to their top score of the season, winning the vault (9.900), bars (9.825) and floor (9.925) titles.
Other Fresh Faces
Three other talented freshman joined the 2008 Fighting Illini squad, with two of them seeing action early in the season. Melissa Fernandez has been an early contributor on the vault, beam, and floor, while Lashlee Morris has been in the beam line-up in all four meets, and saw action last week on bars and floor in the absence of Sophomore Sarah Schmidt. Samantha Perino competed exhibition last week on beam and floor and is pushing to crack the line-up on both.
Big Ten Network To Feature Illinois Gymnastics
The Big Ten Network is televising one more regular season Fighting Illini Women's Gymnastics meet this season, plus the Big Ten Championships. The BTN already broadcasted the Jan. 25 matchup of Illinois at Iowa. The network will now come to Champaign on Feb. 16 as the Illini take on Michigan State. This meet will air on Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.
Remaining Big Ten Network Women's Gymnastics Broadcast Schedule
Feb. 7, 5 pm - Michigan State at Michigan from Jan. 26
Feb. 14, 5 pm - Ohio State at Iowa from Feb. 9
Feb. 18, 5:30 pm - Minnesota at Michigan from Feb. 16
Feb. 21, 5 pm - Michigan State at Illinois from Feb. 16
Feb. 28, 5 pm and March 2, 3 pm - Penn St. at Ohio St. from Feb. 24
March 27, 6 pm - Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska at Penn St. from March 21
