Jan. 25, 2008

Results

Iowa City, Iowa - The No. 22 Fighting Illini Women's Gymnastics team defeated No. 25 Iowa on the road Friday night by a score of 193.650-192.975. The Illini posted their top scores of the season on vault and floor with scores of 48.700 and 48.650, respectively. Illinois had to count a fall on both bars and beam, but in the end, junior Julie Crall came up big with a 9.875 on beam in the final routine of the night to seal the Illini victory.

"I was on the edge of my seat all night," head coach Bob Starkell said. "We had a great performance on vault and a much improved floor rotation, but had two mistakes on both bars and beam. However, in the end, Allison (Buckley) and Julie (Crall) both nailed their beam routines to give us the win."

In her first meet of the season performing all-around, sophomore Sarah Schmidt won the title with a career-high 39.050, while sophomore Nicole Cowart tied for second with a 38.975. For the second consecutive week, freshman Allison Buckley won both the vault and floor crowns. She scored a 9.875 on vault to take the title, and tied teammate Cowart for first on floor with a 9.825. Schmidt was close behind, taking third on floor with a 9.800. Crall won the beam title for the second straight week with her 9.875, followed by Schmidt, who finished second with a career-high tying 9.775.

"Sarah (Schmidt) and Nicole (Cowart) both had great meets today," Starkell said. "Sarah took full advantage of her first opportunity in the all-around, while Nicole looked good on all four of her routines."

Other top performances on the night were Schmidt's 9.775 on bars that took second place and her career-high 9.700 on vault, Buckley's 9.750 on beam that placed third and freshman Melissa Fernandez's vault of 9.725 that was good enough for third place. In all, the Illini set or tied nine career-highs and 13 season-highs on the night.

Tonight's meet was a Big Ten Network broadcast and will air on tape-delay on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. CT.

The Illini return to Champaign next Saturday, Feb. 2 for the "Pink Meet", as they take on No. 16 Denver. The

Illini squad, joined by the American Cancer Society and Colleges Against Cancer, will be hosting several fun activities throughout the meet to help raise awareness about cancer. Both squads will be wearing pink leotards, while all fans that wear pink will receive free admission.

- ILLINI -