Florida's Marissa King took 2nd on the VT at last weekend's British Championships. She placed 8th on the FX as well. She competed three events during the AA portion.
Link: UF Release
Stanford signee Shona Morgan placed third AA at the Australian Championships last night. Georgia Bonora took the AA win. Event finals are on Sunday.
Link: Results (PDF)
The Australian Championships are in progress, and two NCAA affiliated athletes are in action. Oregon State's Olivia Vivan won the AA and BB in the L10 division. Stanford signee Shona Morgan competed UB in the team portion of the elite division.
Link: Results and Oregon State Release
The coaches have overturned their previous vote to do away with the Super Six format. The recent turnabout was approved by the NCAA Sports Management Cabinet in June.
The third elite qualifier was held at the famed Karoyli camp on Saturday. Several recruits like UK commit Kenzie Hedges, Bama commit Brooke Parker, Minnesota transfer Justine Cherwink and Michigan commit Morgan Steigerwalt competed. In addition, Arkansas grad Casey Jo Magee competed on three events.
Link: Results and Video Covereage at Gymnastike.org
Cal Men's Head Coach Barry Weiner has retired, the school has announced. Weiner retires after 19 years at the helm at Cal. His retirement comes amidst reports that Cal boosters and alumni are mobilizing in face of the threat of the entire Cal gymnastics program, due to the ongoing California budget crisis.
Link: Cal Release
According to a Stanford press release sent to CGFs, Tabitha Yim is the new assistant coach at Stanford. The press release reminds us that "Yim was a 14-time All-American at Stanford from 2005-08 – earning the most All-America honors in school history – and had 13 first-team selections. She placed among the top 10 in the NCAA all-around competition all four years and twice won Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA regional all-around titles."
Press ReleaseJD Reive has been named Head Coach at Iowa, according to a school release. Reive replaces Tom Dunn, who retired at the end of the 2010 season. For the last seven seaons, he has served as an assistant at Stanford.
Link: Iowa Release
Arkansas, Auburn, Illinois, North Carolina State, Utah and Washington have been selected to host the 2012 regional meets.
Utah has officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, further strengthening an already strong gymnastics conference. They currently compete as part of the WAC, which does not sponsor a conference championship. Eight teams currently now support the Women's sport in the Pac-10. Utah will begin Pac-10 competition for the 2011-2012 school year.
Colorado had previously announced it's intention to join the Pac-10 after NU moved from the Big 12 to the Big 10. Shortly thereafter, Boise State moved to the MWC. This all started a chain reaction of negotiations between schools, conferences (Big 10, Pac 10, and Big 12) and television networks. In the end, the remaining schools in the Big 12 decided to stay together as a conference after a new television deal was assembled that satisfied Texas. Some pundits speculated that the major sports television networks had a vested interest in preventing the spread of mega-conferences, each with their own television channels.
However, there is speculation that although the activity has settled down, it is not yet completed. Some schools, and more importnatly, boosters are still seeking out the best options for their schools.
Link: SLC Tribune Article and Utah Press Conference Transcript
Steve Shephard has stepped down as Head Coach at Penn State to pursue other career opportunities, according to a school release. He said in a statement, "I have decided to retire from coaching after a 30 year career in gymnastics, to pursue other career opportunities. It has been my great honor, and privilege, to work with all of the gifted young people associated with this program over the last 21 years."
Link: PSU Release and Daily Collegian Coverage, Including Interviews
Vicki Chliszczyk has been named the Head Coach at Towson, replacing Dick Filbert, who retired. Chliszczyk has been an assistant for the past five season at Maryland and is a native of Canada, where she competed in gymanstics. She is just the fourth Head Coach in the 43 year history of the program. The full Towson release follows below.
DU has hired Jay Hogue as an assistant. Hogue has been coaching at Broadway Gymnastics in Florida, and was a previous long-time staff member at Orlando Metro. He replaces Nilson Savage.
Link: DU Release
UCLA's Vanessa Zamarripa qualified to the VISA (US) Championships with her performance at the second elite qualifier held at Bieger's this weekend. She won her optional session and the compulsary section. Several incoming recruits and NCAA athletes were in action this weekend.
2011 Michigan commit Annettte Miele won this session and posted a VISA Championships qualifying score. LSU incoming frosh Gabrielle Swart and 2011 Michigan committ Morgan Steigerwalt competed in this session.
Incoming Minnesota transfer Justine Cherwink competed in this session.
Session 3 included Zamarripa and former Arkansas athlete Casey Jo Magee.