Jan. 13, 2001
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. --- The 2001 University of Illinois women's gymnastics team opened the regular season tonight against the No. 9 Penn State Nittany Lions. In a close battle, Penn State edged Illinois 194.825-194.650
Head Coach Bob Starkell was pleased with the competitiveness of his gymnasts. "This was the best performance in a first meet in the eight years that I have been working with the program," Starkell, who is beginning his second year as the head coach, said. "The thing that impressed me the most is that we started on our weakest events and didn't have any misses."
Illinois sophomore Karen Hawley was the all-around champion with a total of 39.000. Hawley also tied for first place on the floor exercise with teammate Carissa Ericson and Penn State's Katie Rowland. All three gymnasts scored a 9.850 on the event. Hawley's highest score of the night was a personal best of 9.875 on the uneven bars. She also scored 9.725 on the balance beam and 9.550 on vault. Rowland finished second in the all-around competition followed by Richelle Simpson of Penn State. Rowland was the individual vault champion (9.850), and Simpson won the beam competition (9.925).
Six other members of the Illinois squad set career highs. Michelle Buranich scored a personal best of 9.900 to be the individual champion on the uneven bars. Sophomore Jana Gallagher set career marks on both the beam (9.900) and the bars (9.850). Junior Allison Berg also set career marks on the vault (9.700) and floor (9.725). Michele Mesik scored a personal best of 9.650 on the beam. Amanda Kaufman set a career beast mark of 9.625 on the vault, and senior Jennifer Barrett scored a career high of 9.550 on the bars.
The Illini go on the road to face Illinois State on Jan. 19. They remain on the road when they travel to Michigan State for a co-ed meet on Jan 27. The Illinois women's gymnastics squad returns home for a co-ed match-up with Ohio State at 7 p.m. at Huff Hall on Feb. 3.
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ILLINOIS PENN STATE
V Mina Moradi 9.400 Katie McAvoy 9.600
A Amanda Kaufman 9.625 Leslie Bair 9.700
U Allison Berg 9.700 Nikki Bongiovanni 9.700
L Karen Hawley 9.550 Richelle Simpson 9.400
T Michelle Buranich 9.250 Katie Rowland 9.850
Carissa Ericson 9.675 Gemma Cuff 9.600
Vault Score: 47.95 Running Score: 47.95 Vault Score: 48.45 Running Score: 48.45
Jennifer Barrett 9.550 Jennifer Drilling 9.750
B Jana Gallagher 9.850 Richelle Simpson 9.825
A Gina Wiechmann 9.875 Nikki Bongiovanni 9.300
R Lisa Pellegrinetti 9.725 Katie Rowland 9.875
S Michelle Buranich 9.900 Maria Taylor 9.850
Karen Hawley 9.875 Katie McAvoy 9.300
Bars Score 49.225 Running Score 97.175 Bars Score 48.600 Running Score 97.050
Allison Berg 9.250 Gemma Cuff 9.825
B Lisa Pellegrinetti 9.725 Katie McAvoy 9.875
E Michele Mesik 9.650 Katie Rowland 9.400
A Karen Hawley 9.725 Nikki Bongiovanni 9.850
M Gina Wiechmann 9.875 Richelle Simpson 9.925
Jana Gallagher 9.900 Maria Taylor 9.875
Beam Score 48.875 Running Score 146.050 Beam Score 49.35 Running Score 146.400
F Michele Mesik 9.625 Lisa Campagnolo 9.775
L Allison Berg 9.725 Richelle Simpson 9.700
O Jana Gallagher 9.550 Katie McAvoy 9.175
O Karen Hawley 9.850 Leslie Bair 9.300
R Lisa Pellegrinetti 9.350 Katie Rowland 9.850
Carissa Ericson 9.850 Gemma Cuff 9.800
Floor Score: 48.600 Running Score: 194.650 Floor Score: 48.425 Running Score: 194.825
