Illinois Head Coach Kim Landrus has announced the hiring of Rodney Gust as an assistant. He has served for the last two seasons at Yale. Prior to that, he coached at Flipz and GAGE.
Link: Illinois Release
Centenary will add three more gymnasts to the 2011-2012 incoming class: Noel Stubbs, Sylvia Keiter and Lissy Naylor. Naylor's commit was covered in a prior news item.
Stubbs trains at Gymnastics Unlimited in Florida. At the 2011 Region VIII L10 Regionals, she placed 14th AA in the Senior C division. She was 20th AA and 4th on BB in 2010. Link: YouTube.com Video
Keiter trains at Champions in Arkansas. At the 2010 Region III L10 Regionals, she placed 19th AA. Link: YouTube.com Channel
Link: Centenary Release
It's another summer of offseason work, and we've unfortunately had to say "goodbye" to some of our favorite seniors. On the women's side, we're going to lose some standout champions like 2011 NCAA AA Champion Kylie Botterman of Michigan, Bama's Kayla Hoffman and UCLA's Brittani McCullough. Although rosters for next season are not finalized, here's a quick summary of the status of Top 25 women's teams from this past season, with their key losses summarized and highlighted.
Rachel Schick, L10 at West Coast Elite, has given an early verbal to Georgia. Schick finished 2nd AA (1st BB) at the SoCal meet, 4th AA at regionals and 11th AA at JO Nationals this year.
Michigan State announce three additions to the 2011-2012 incoming class: Ellie Gosselin, Ashley Noll and Carson Tabiolo. The commit of Gosselin was covered in a prior news item.
Noll is a L10 who trains at the Artistic Sports Academy Plus in PA. She tied for 26th AA at the 2011 L10 Nationals, Sr. C division. She also qualified to L10 Nationals in 2010, where she tied for 36th AA. Link: YouTube.com
Tabiolo is a L10 who trains at HITS in Hawaii. At the 2011 L10 Nationals, she tied for 45th AA. She also qualified to L10 Nationals in 2010, placing 51st. Link: Recruiting Video
Link: MSU Release
New Cal Head Coach Danna Durante has hired Justin Howell as an assistant. Howell has coached over 40 NCAA gymnasts while serving as Head Coach and Program Director at Airborne Gymnastics.
Link: Cal Release
Jesse Williams, a L10 at Waller's GymJam, has committed to Sac State for 2012-2013. At the 2011 Region I L10 Regionals, she placed 15th AA in the Senior B division. She was 2nd in the SoCal Level 10 States in 2010, but competed only two events at Regionals.
Link: YouTube.com Channel
Oklahoma has hired Olympian and former BYU star Guard Young as an assistant. He has been most recently coached at Byers. Former OU assistant Rustam Sharipov is now the Head Coach at Ohio State.
Link: OU Release
Alaska Anchorage has confirmed the signing of Sariaye Jensen, as reported earlier.
Link: Alaska Anchorage Release
Mckenzey Martinez, L10 at Magic Valley Gymnastics in Idaho, has committed to Utah State. Martinez finished 1st AA (1st UB/BB) at her state meet this season, 2nd AA (1st UB) at regionals and 14th AA at JO Nationals.
Abby Griswold, a L10 at Daggett's, has committed to Towson for the 2012-2013 season. This past season, she tied for 37th AA at the L10 JO Nationals, Senior A. She also tied for 42nd AA at the 2010 L10 Nationals.
Link: Confirmation at the Club's Booster Club Page and YouTube.com Videos
Towson has hired Becky (nee Robertson) Schaller as an assistant. She was a standout at MSU in the 90s and has been volunteeing at Towson the past year. She has been a club coach at Harford.
Link: Towson Release
Air Force has announced that eight gymnasts have accepted appointments at the Academy for the coming school year. They are:
Skyler Awisus - Reno, Nev.
Gared Chapman - Winter Park, Fla.
Gregory Chaput - Worcester, Mass.
Nicholas Gaudlip - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Corbin Palmer - Frisco, Texas
Steven Ramos - Broken Arrow, Okla.
Niko Schwab - Arvada, Colo.
Jon Spiro - Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Says Head Coach Kip Simons, "This is, by far, the best recruiting class that has been assembled in the last decade.... (Air Force) will take another step forward in the national rankings."
Link: Air Force Release
Nebraska Head Coach Dan Kendig has announced that Heather Brink will join the program as an assistant coach. She has been coaching since 2006 at Nebraska SOG, and prior to that at the Arizona Sunrays. The 11-time All-American and former National AA champion replaces Danna Durante, who is now the Head Coach at Cal.
Link: NU Release