May 2, 2010
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini men's and women's gymnastics teams celebrated the 2010 season on Sunday afternoon at the I-Hotel in Champaign with their annual awards banquet, honoring the accomplishments of both squads while saying goodbye to seniors. Senior Luke Stannard and junior Melissa Fernandez took home Most Valuable honors for the men's and women's teams, respectively, for their contributions both in and out of the gym.
Stannard capped off a stellar career at Illinois by becoming just the third Illini to win the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top senior male gymnast and honors excellence in gymnastics, good sportsmanship and fair play and a high standard of scholarship throughout his collegiate career. To open his senior season, Stannard won a U.S. National title on pommel horse at the Visa Championships back in August, before going on to capture a career-best five event titles during the season and concluded the year with his first-career All-America honor on pommel horse. Outside the gym, Stannard is a three-time College Gymnastics Association (CGA) All-America Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Fernandez also took home co-Most Outstanding Gymnasts honors along with senior Sarah Schmidt. Both gymnasts were first-team and Academic All-Big Ten selections and set or tied their career highs on every event this season. Schmidt was a national qualifier in the all-around, tied the school record on floor and was second on the team with 12 individual titles. Fernandez was third on the team with 11 crowns and excelled in her first season as an all-arounder, topping the 39-mark eight times.
Redshirt junior Chad Wiest, who earned his second-career All-America honor on floor exercise, won the team's Most Outstanding and Most Improved Awards after competing this season for the first time since sustaining a shoulder injury at the Big Ten Championships two years ago. Wiest finished the season with a team-best score of 16.100 on floor, which also was a new school record under the FIG open ended code.
Junior Samantha Perino was selected as the team's Most Improved Gymnast, as she led off on floor at every meet and recorded career highs on beam and floor. Senior Nicole Cowart, a second-team All-Big Ten selection, picked up the Most Consistent Beam Award after hitting 55-of-56 routines on the year and competing in the all-around at every meet.
Junior Allison Buckley, a first-team All-American on vault, and Wiest won the Scholar-Athlete Awards for having the highest GPAs on their respective teams. Wiest also was selected as captain for the 2010-11 season along with junior Daniel Ribeiro, who has served as a captain the past two seasons. Ribeiro also earned this season's Fighting Illini Attitude Award.
Sophomore C.J. Padera became the second recipient of the Yoshi Hayasaki Award for consistency, given in honor of the legendary men's gymnastics coach who retired at the end of last season.
In addition to the honors handed out, both squads bid farewell to the senior classes. The Fighting Illini women said goodbye to four seniors, Cowart, Schmidt, Laura Woolf and team manager Lori Hamilton, while the men's squad sent-off a stellar class of five seniors - Stannard, Wiest, Brian Liscovitz, Andres Saavedra and Tyler Williamson.
Associate head coach Justin Spring enjoyed quite a successful first season at the helm of the men's program, as the Orange and Blue captured its second-straight Big Ten title and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Spring was named Central Region and Big Ten Coach of the Year, while Ivan Ivankov garnered his second-straight Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year accolade.
Three Illini earned the first All-America honors of their careers including seniors Stannard (pommel horse) and Tyler Williamson (rings) and sophomores Tyler Mizoguchi (all-around) and Anthony Sacramento (rings), while Wiest earned his second on floor exercise. In addition to a team championship, five Illini claimed Big Ten Individual titles as well, including junior Paul Ruggeri (vault, high bar), Ribeiro (pommel horse) and Padera (parallel bars). All three earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, while senior Brian Liscovitz secured second team honors for his second-place finish on parallel bars and newcomer Yoshi Mori was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year.
The Fighting Illini women turned in several highlights throughout the year and finished the season ranked 16th in the nation, marking the fifth consecutive year the Illini completed the season in the top 25. Buckley garnered first-team All-America honors on vault at the NCAA Championships, becoming just the second Illini to accomplish the feat. Schmidt also was a national qualifier in the all-around after advancing from the NCAA Central Regional, where the Illini placed third as a team. The Orange and Blue led the conference with three first-team All-Big Ten selections, and head coach Bob Starkell was named co-Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
2010 Illinois Men's Gymnastics Team Awards
Most Valuable: Luke Stannard
Most Outstanding: Chad Wiest
Most Improved: Chad Wiest
Fighting Illini Attitude Award: Daniel Ribeiro
Scholar-Athlete Award: Chad Wiest
Yoshi Hayasaki Award: C.J. Padera
2010 Team Captains: Chad Wiest and Daniel Ribeiro
2010 Women's Gymnastics Award Winners
Most Valuable: Melissa Fernandez
Most Outstanding: Melissa Fernandez and Sarah Schmidt
Most Improved: Samantha Perino
Most Consistent Beam: Nicole Cowart
Scholar-Athlete: Allison Buckley
