Kailyn Hawkins, L10 at Southeastern in N.C., has reportedly committed to Nebraska for the 2011-12 season according to a Facebook entry.  Hawkins, a 3 time JO qualifier,  finished 19th AA (3rd V, 12th UB, 9th FX) in the 2009 JO Jr. D session.  She has had a strong 2010 season, winning the all around in her session of the Twin City Invite, the Hilton Head Invite, the Chicago Style and the Charleston Cup, and finishing in the top three of all of her other meets.

Videos

The 2010 Superlatives list has been published.  This is our annual listing of the FIG E, F and G skills (and vaults of FIG 5.3 point start value and above) competed in the NCAA.  The list is incomplete, so send in your submissions of successfully completed and credited skills, and we'll continually update the list.  You can reach the listing under the top menu item for News, then Features.  Or you can jump straight to the link after the "Read the Full Story" button.

In a St. Patrick's Day contest, GWU defeated Towson.  Junior Leslie Delima led GWU with a 38.925 AA win. She also tied for the FX title with teammate Megan Quinn.  Another teammate, Amanda Murphy, tied for the VT title with Towson's Megan Wooden and Alise McDonald.  Towson's Jackie Schweitzer won UB and BB to lead Towson.

Link:  GWU Release

For the men this week, the rankings from Troester.com GymInfo are still done by the average of three meets.  This week, Stanford retains the top spot, followed by OU and Illinois.  OU's Steven Legendre takes over the lead in the AA and retains his lead on the FX.  Illinois' Luke Stannard takes over the top spot on PH for the only change this week.  Once again, the remaining events show no change.  Ohio State's Brandon Wynn remains in the top spot on Rings.  On VT, Tim Gentry of Stanford stays into the lead.  On PB, Cal's Kyle Bunthuwong is the leader, while on HB, Illinois' Paul Ruggeri is the leader.

Link: Troester GymInfo

➽ Kristina VACULIK promises to be one of the most exciting recruits for the 2010-11 season when she joins the Stanford team next year.  She has been competing internationally since 2005 and was the Canadian Junior National Champ in 2006.  In her first year at the senior level, she finished first at the 2007 National Championships and seemed on her way to a spot on the 2008 Olympic team. She was selected as an alternate to the 2008 Canadian Olympic team, but withdraw due to an elbow injury.   After long recuperation period, she’s back in great form and competing a busy schedule.

VACULIK may be heading to college next fall, but she isn't wrapping up her elite career.  She is working to earn a spot at the Pacific Rim event later this season.   She also plans to defer her 2011-12 season at Stanford to focus on the 2012 Olympic Games.  She talked about her plans in interviews with International Gymnast Magazine and Gymnastike.  Here’s a short video interview following her performance at the Gymnix.

Sarah DeMEO was likely one of the hottest recruiting prospects in the country when she committed to Alabama last year.  As a five-year elite and three-time Junior National Team member, she racked up years of valuable training and meet experience before dropping back to L10 in the summer of 2008. She had an impressive 2009 season, finishing 5th AA (1st UB) at JO’s.  This season she looks even stronger.  She has finished in the top three AA in all of her 2010 meets, with wins at Chow’s, Eagles Invite, St. Louis Classic and Northern Lights.  Judging from the array of event wins throughout this competitive season, she has no weak event and she is poised to step right in next year to fill one of the spots left by Alabama’s solid group of graduating seniors.  See DeMeo's interview with Gymnastike and take a look at her interesting bars transition.

Aliza VACCHER holds the title of State Champion in two different states.  She won the state title in Oregon in 2008 and she won her second state title after moving to Arizona in 2009.  This Desert Devils L10 may be under the radar of many gymnastics fans but she has popped up at the top of the results sheets this season.  She won the Lady Luck Invite, the Fiesta Bowl (1st V/BB), the Classic Rock meet (1st UB/FX), the Malibu Coast (1st V/UB/BB) and placed 2nd AA (1st V/BB) at the Long Beach Open.  VACCHER heads to Washington next fall.  Since UW has no seniors on its roster this year, she will step in to strengthen a program that returns every routine next year.

➽ The review of recruiting classes wraps up with look at eleven more teams: BYU, CMU, DU, Iowa, Kent St., Minnesota, UNC, Ohio St., Oklahoma, Pitt, and WMU.  Thirty two programs have been included in the review over the past several weeks.  The focus of future articles will shift to state and regional meets, and then to the Junior Olympic competition.

➽ KUDOS! Most meet results from the past two or three weeks have not been posted, but here are a few recent meet winners who aren’t already mentioned above:

(Heather) Nicole Wright, L10 at World Class in Va., has committed to Maryland for the 2011-12 season. Earlier this season she finished 2nd AA (1st BB) at the World Class meet and 2nd AA (1st V/FX) at the Cancun Classic.

Link: 

Alabama holds onto the top spot in this week's rankings, with OU second and UCLA third.  Missouri's Sarah Shire takes over the top spot in this week's AA rankings.  LSU's Susan Jackson still leads the vault, while UCLA's Anna Li retains the top spot on UB.  Hollie Vise of OU claims sole possession of the lead on BB, while teammate Jackie Flanery takes over the lead on FX.

Air Force posted a 62.35 on VT to boost their squad to victory.  Nash Mills won the AA with a 86.3 to lead the Falcons.  Teammate Dan Klimkowski added wins on PH and Rings.

Link:  Springfield release

UCLA won the tri-meet on Senior Day, posting a 196.525 to surpass Michigan State.   Vanessa Zamarripa won UB and BB en route to a career high 39.7 AA win.  UCLA's Tauny Frattone and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs tied for the VT title at 9.95.  Hopfner-Hibbs added a win on FX.

Link:  UCLA Release