SUU won the rare Thursday meet, with star Elise Wheeler posting a 38.925 in the AA. SUU's Bailey Baker and Shannon Coughlin tied for top honors on the FX while teammate Melissa Johnson won the VT. BYU senior Megan Donehue won the UB and BB to lead the Cougars.
Link: BYU Release
Live Links for Thursday, January 14th, 2010
SUU at BYU, 7 pm MST: Link
In his latest contribution, Tom Kovic shares the importance of persistence in the college recruiting search...
The dictionary definition of persistence is: continuing in spite of opposition; enduring, lasting or recurrent. In a nutshell, I feel strongly that a persistent effort in every aspect of the college search for athletes will, in the end, give prospects and their families the greatest chance at success.
The first rankings of the season have been published (by high score) at Troester.com. UCLA leads the team rankings, with OU second.
Elyse Hopfner Hibbs of UCLA leads the AA rankings.
Link: Troester GymInfo
CMU defeated host Illinois State by a narrow margin, overcoming the Redbirds first half lead. CMU's Katie Simon won the AA (38.575), VT and tied for titles on the BB (with Illinois State's Hannah Deutsch) and FX (with teammate Kristin Teubner). Illinois State's Erica Shick won the UB and took 2nd in the AA.
Link: Illinois State Release
Natalie Blum, a NIU senior, won the AA and two individual events in her debut as an AAer. She captured titles on VT and FX en route to a 38.45 AA win. Teammate Ashley Guerra led a NIU sweep on UB, while Huskie Jessica Watanabe won BB with a meet-high 9.775.
Link: NIU Release
Thomasina Wallace won the UB, VT (tie with teammate Lily Swann) and AA with a 38.7 to lead San Jose State. Katie Yamamura, a frosh, won the FX for the 2nd place UC Davis squad. Another frosh, Cami Casimere of CSUF, won the BB.
Link: UC Davis Release
WMU's Kristine Garbarino posted a 38.55 to win the AA and lead the Broncos to victory. She also posted victories on the BB and a tied for the title on FX with Ball State's Brittany Emmons. Teammate Meghan Donovon tied for the UB title with Ball State's Katelyn Busacker. For Ball State, Brittany Emmons also tied for the vault title with teammate Nicole Allen.
Link: Ball State Release
Arkansas won their home opener with a solid 195.4, with Amy DeFilippo, Casey Jo Magee, Sarah Nagashima and Jamie Pisani capturing individual event wins. DeFilippo won UB while Nagashima won the BB. Magee and Pisani tied for the FX title, with Pisani winning the AA with a 39.125. Arizona won VT as a team, with Deanna Graham capturing the VT title.
Link: Arkansas Release
Kentucky swept all the events en route to a big victory over TWU. Storey Morris led the way, picking up a share of meet titles on UB and BB. On UB, she tied with teammates Jacque Behrendt and Jamie Reimann. On BB, she tied with Emily Green. UK's Hillary Ferguson and Whitney Rose tied for the VT title while Wildcat Jasmine Minion won the FX. UK's Andrea Mitchell won the AA with a 38.8, making her the 8th different UK event winner. Rashonda Cannie posted TWU's highest score, a 9.7 on UB.
Link: TWU Release
Penn State (M) won their home opener, defeating Army 341 to 314.35. Remarkably, a freshman for PSU captured at a least a share of first place on every event.
Link: Release
Denver defeated Minnesota, posting a big early season score and winning all our events, including a 49.0 on BB. For the Pioneers, Kelley Hennigan won the VT title while Ellen McCarthy and Lauren Garan tied for the BB title. Gopher Alexis Russell won the AA with a 39.075, as well as the UB. Frosh teammate Janell Campbell won the FX.
Link: Minn Release
UCLA score the nation's top score thus far, hitting a 196.6. UCLA's Elyse Hopfner Hibbs won the AA with a 39.375, capturing a title on FX and a tie on BB with teammate Vanessa Zamarripa. Zamarripa also won the VT, while teammate Anna Li completed the Bruin sweep with the UB title. Kyndal Robarts led Utah with a 39.15 AA.
Link: UCLA Release
Michigan won their home opener, led by Kylee Botterman's 39.15 AA victory. Botterman also captured the UB title. Frosh Natalie Beilstein had a stellar debut for the Wolverines, winning VT with Yurchenko 1 1/2 and FX. Iowa's Houry Gebeshian won the BB title.
Link: UM Release
Georgia held off Stanford on the last event to post Head Coach Jay Clark's first victory, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,224. Courtney McCool posted a 9.925 to secure the win for the GymDogs in the last routine of the competition. Stanford's Carly Janiga posted a 39.3 for the AA win to lead the Cardinal. In addition to McCool's win on the FX, teammate Marcia Newby won VT, while teammates Kathryn Ding and Gina Nuccio tied for 1st on the UB. Grace Taylor completed the UGA sweep.
Link: UGA Release
UNH's Chelsea Steinberg won the BB and tied with teammate Helena Diodati on the VT to lead the Wildcats. Teammate Danielle Reibold won the UB, while another teammate, Katie Caliendo, won the FX. The Wildcats suffered problems on UB, but pulled out team wins on the other three events.
Link: Rutgers Release