2009 Women's Gymnastics Season Preview
January 7, 2009 | Women's Gymnastics
Jan. 7, 2009
2009 Media Guide
The University of Illinois womens' gymnastics program has risen to new heights in recent years, and in 2009 the Fighting Illini are primed to make an even bigger leap towards national prominence. In 2008, the Illini continued the program's recent upward trend with the best season thus far under head coach Bob Starkell, who is entering his 10th season at the helm of the Orange and Blue. Following an incredible postseason, Illinois finished the year ranked 15th in the national rankings, marking the highest national ranking in program history. The 2008 Illini garnered the best regional finish in school history, taking third at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships, and finished second at the Big Ten Championships.
With the return of two individual NCAA Championship qualifiers and 22 of 24 routines overall, the 2009 Illini squad is ranked 16th heading into the season and is looking to make a run toward the NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska.
"Coming off a very solid season last year, especially during postseason competition, we are looking forward to building on what we accomplished," Starkell said. "We graduated only two routines last year, so we have relatively the same group as we did in 2008. Plus the addition of a talented group of newcomers should help us in our quest to make the NCAA National Championships."
The two departed routines come from last year's seniors, Krystal Melcarek and Michelle McGrady. Melcarek will truly be missed in her leadoff position on the uneven bars where she had been Illinois' most consistent performer over the past four years, hitting 50 of 51 routines in her career. McGrady was equally as valuable in the vault lineup, where she competed in every meet over the last two seasons.
"We have a nice group of freshmen that should be able to help fill the spaces left by the departures," Starkell said. "With their addition, and constant improvement by several of the upperclassmen, I think we will have more depth on all four events."
This year, the Illini have the opportunity to take their shot at the Big Ten Championship on their home floor at Huff Hall. With a runner-up finish last season in Ann Arbor, the Illini squad hopes to kick off this year's postseason with a bang in Champaign and bring home the school's first women's gymnastics conference title since 1990.
"Being part of the Big Ten Conference is an honor and we look forward to the chance to compete against all the other teams at our championships each year," Starkell said. "This year will be special because we are hosting the event, and hopefully our team will be in a position to make a run at the crown."
With the addition of this year's gifted freshman class and the experienced talent ahead of them, there's no doubt that the 2009 Illini have high hopes for the upcoming campaign.
Seniors
The senior group, consisting of Marijka Botterman, Julie Crall, Kim Kruk and Lindsey Smith, has been a huge part of Illinois' success over the last three years and nothing looks to change this year.
"A team is only going to be as good as its senior leaders, and we are fortunate to have a very talented senior class this year," Starkell said.
Botterman is expected to see action in all four events in 2009. Last year, she looked her best toward the end of the season, finishing eighth and tenth in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Regionals, respectively, and captured three runner-up finishes in the final two regular season meets. During her career, Botterman has nine career individual titles, including four each in the all-around and on vault. With a solid offseason, she looks to be very valuable to the Illini in several events.
"Marijka has probably had her strongest preseason so far," Starkell said. "She really doesn't have a weak event, which will give her the chance to crack the line-up on all four events."
Crall has been the Illini's most dynamic beam performer throughout her career, capturing the 2008 Big Ten beam title. Formerly an all-arounder before suffering an Achilles injury near the end of her sophomore season, she has come back to be a steady contributor on the uneven bars, as well as beam, competing on the event in every meet and capturing her first career bars title at the 2008 State of Illinois Classic. She was a second team All-Big Ten performer in her freshman and sophomore seasons and has 15 career titles, including 14 on the balance beam.
Kruk had been a constant contributor on several events in her first two years with the Illini before being hampered by a foot injury early last season. She competed in the all-around in 21 of 27 meets during her freshman and sophomore seasons, where she captured four titles. She is capable of contributing on all four events in her senior year.
Smith has been a very consistent part of the Orange and Blue's vault and floor lineups since entering as a freshman. Last season, she captured her first career title on vault against Auburn and took fourth on the event at the Big Ten Championships. In addition, Smith competed in every meet on floor exercise, garnering three consecutive top-3 finishes to end the regular season.
The Illini will be looking for its senior class to use their experience to lead this team on the competitive floor. In addition to Marijka in the all-around, you should see big things out of Crall on beam and bars. Despite having a preseason setback, look for Smith to be a staple in the floor lineup. Kruk will be counted on to bring in steady performances on bars and floor.
Juniors
This year's junior class has found much success during its first two seasons as Illini. The juniors, consisting of Nicole Cowart, Sarah Schmidt and Laura Woolf, look to continue to build off their momentum, as well as take a more vital leadership role as upperclassmen.
Cowart has competed in the all-around in every meet of her career, where she has garnered many accolades. Last season, she qualified for the NCAA Championships as an all-around performer, after claiming third place at the NCAA South Central Regional. That experience should only help with her preparation for this season. A 2007 first team All-Big Ten selection, Cowart has 11 career individual titles, including four on floor and three in the all-around.
"Nicole should definitely have the opportunity to compete all-around again," Starkell said. "She is probably one of our strongest leaders both vocally and by example with her gymnastics."
Schmidt has also performed well on all four events, especially on the uneven bars, since entering the program. Last year, despite suffering an ankle injury during the middle of the season, she held the squad's top-4 uneven bars scores, including a third place finish at both the Big Ten Championships (9.900) and NCAA South Central Regional (9.850).
"Sarah has had the opportunity to compete in the all-around and probably will have the chance again this year," Starkell said. "I have a feeling that for this team to do well, both Sarah and Nicole will need to be consistent scorers and leaders."
Woolf saw her first action as an Illini last season, competing twice on vault at Iowa and Auburn. She has shown steady improvement throughout the past two years and should provide valuable depth on vault, beam, and bars.
Sophomores
The sophomore class is coming off an unbelievable rookie season. The group of Allison Buckley, Melissa Fernandez, Lashlee Morris and Samantha Perino has tremendous potential and should be very valuable in helping this year's team achieve its goals.
"We are bringing back an extremely talented sophomore class," Starkell said. "I'm confident they can follow-up their first-year success with an even better showing."
Buckley put her name on the national map by turning in one of the best freshman seasons in Illinois history. She became Illinois' first NCAA All-American by earning second team honors on the balance beam. Buckley was also honored as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year, was named first team All-Big Ten and Illinois' Female Newcomer of the Year. She captured 19 individual titles, placing her third behind only former Olympian Nancy Thies for the highest single season total in school history.
"I think Allison is capable of having the same success that she did last year," Starkell said. "The toughest issue after coming off of a phenomenal freshman year is putting more pressure on yourself to try and duplicate it the next year. We are just looking for Allison to be another strong all-around competitor on our team that can provide us with some strong scores on all four events."
Fernandez was a solid contributor on three events last year, competing on vault and beam in every meet and floor in 12 of 13 meets. She took seventh on beam (9.800) at the NCAA South Central Regional and also claimed career-highs on vault (9.800) and floor (9.800) at the regional meet. Fernandez has improved her bars set for this year and could be a factor in the all-around as she looks to build off last year's late season surge and turn in another great year as a sophomore.
"Melissa could be contributing to the team on all four events this year," Starkell said. "She didn't get the chance to compete on bars last year, but with the graduation of Krystal Melcarek and her steady improvement this fall, we look at her as a possibility to fill that void."
Morris was a valuable Illini competitor on the balance beam last season, missing only one meet on the event due to a foot injury. She also saw some action throughout the year on bars and floor. Morris was voted the team's Most Improved Gymnast, and this year the Illini look for her to continue to be a constant fixture in the beam lineup, and possibly see action again on bars and floor.
Perino saw limited action as a freshman, competing twice on the floor exercise, but added depth to the lineup on multiple events. With much improvement throughout the year, the coaches look to see Perino push for a spot in the floor exercise lineup.
Freshmen
Another solid group of freshman enters this year's mix to help fill the void left by the departing seniors. Kelsey Joannides, the 2008 Junior Olympic Maryland state bars and floor champion and runner-up in the all-around and vault, along with Alyssa Harmon and Hannah Welker, look to add valuable depth and competition inside the gym.
"Each one has a different style about them," Starkell said of the freshmen. "I think Kelsey will probably have the biggest opportunity to compete on the most events. She excels on the vault and floor and she might even compete all-around during the year."
Coach Starkell's Event-by-Event Breakdown:
Vault
"A big factor on vault is that we have to try and replace Michelle McGrady, who had a pretty consistent vault last year. We are looking at Kelsey Joannides, who had a great preseason, as a possibility to fill that spot. Coming back we have Allison Buckley, Marijka Botterman, Nicole Cowart and Melissa Fernandez, who were all impressive on the event last year and helped break the team vault record. Additionally, Lindsey Smith and Sarah Schmidt both saw action on the event last season bringing in some high scores for the Illini. Despite losing McGrady, the vault squad should continue to improve in 2009. Their consistency will enable this event to be extremely solid for our team."
Uneven Bars
"We have the same core group that was very strong last year with Sarah Schmidt leading the way. Marijka Botterman, Julie Crall, Allison Buckley and Nicole Cowart were all mainstays in the line-up; however, the challenge this year will be to find a new leadoff person. We had Krystal Melcarek in the leadoff role on bars for the past four years and now someone needs to step into that spot. Melissa Fernandez, Kelsey Joannides and Lashlee Morris are all more than capable of cracking the line-up. As far as leading off, we need to see who can be the most consistent during the last couple weeks of training."
Balance Beam
"On paper, I think beam is probably our strongest event in terms of scoring potential. We bring back Julie Crall, the Big Ten Beam Champion, and I look at Allison Buckley and Melissa Fernandez to post as good, or better, scores than they did last year. Marijka Botterman, Nicole Cowart, Lashlee Morris and Sarah Schmidt all performed well on beam at times last season as well. Basically, our whole group has the potential to compete on beam, so I think it will be very competitive in practice to see who is the most consistent."
Floor Exercise
"We have Sarah Schmidt and Nicole Cowart coming back with strong routines, and Allison Buckley was our top performer on floor last season. We also have the nice addition of Kelsey Joannides along with the other freshmen. Samantha Perino could possibly jump in there as she got some experience competing last year and has had a good preseason. She had a little stress fracture in her back early in the year, but she's in shape and doing well so hopefully she will have the opportunity to compete. With veterans Melissa Fernandez, Marijka Botterman, Kim Kruk and Lindsey Smith also returning with plenty of competition experience on floor, this will certainly be one of our most competitive events as nearly everyone will be gunning for a spot in the lineup."
All-Around
"On any given weekend, we could possibly have five all-arounders competing. A lot of our best routines are from the girls that are going to be doing more than one or two events. I think initially, it is probably going to be Nicole Cowart, Sarah Schmidt and Marijka Botterman doing all-around. Allison Buckley is coming off surgery, but she will be a part of that group also when she is ready. The one person that I think might be competing all-around for us this year that hasn't thus far is Melissa Fernandez. We have several athletes who have the ability to make the lineup on all four events, so the number of all-arounders we have competing may vary week to week. It is great to have this much depth on all four events."
