Gymnasts of the Week March 5-11, 2012 Awards are given by conference offices

Gymnasts of the Week March 5-11, 2012 Awards are given by conference offices Big Ten Conference Jamie Schleppenbach, Nebraska Took first place in the all-around competition, earning two event titles to lead No. 6 Nebraska to a win over No. 7 Utah Set or tied career highs in every event, posting a 39.575 in the all-around en route to first place Took the vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.900) titles, finished fifth on the bars (9.875) and took 10 th in the floor exercise (9.850) Earns her first weekly Big Ten award Freshman of the Week Jessie DeZiel, Nebraska Placed in the top five in every event and the all-around against No. 7 Utah Won the floor exercise title with a career high 9.950, adding fifth-place finishes on the balance beam (9.850), bars (9.875) and vault (9.875) Took second in the all-around with a score of 39.550 Earns her eighth Freshman of the Week award Big 12 Conference Sara Stone, Oklahoma Stone finished second on vault Sunday behind UCLA s Tauny Frattone who scored a perfect 10.0 on the event. Stone s 9.9 was her 10th score of 9.9 or better out of 11 vaults this season. The senior is currently the top-ranked vaulter in the country. Stone also added a 9.85 on both beam and floor against No. 3 UCLA. Stone has posted a 9.8 or higher in 27 of her 33 routines this season. Newcomer of the Week Rachel Updike, Missouri The award comes for Updike after the Tigers competed at Alabama at a Tornado Relief meet. The Tigers posted a 195.375 team score, and Updike recorded a 9.900 on floor to tie for first on the event. She also recorded a 9.850 on vault and beam. The score matches her personal best on the balance beam. East Atlantic Gymnastics League Kaylin Millick, West Virginia Millick, a native of Washington, Pa., scored a career-best 39.175 and finished third overall in the Mountaineers upset victory over No. 8 Arkansas on March 10. She closed out the meet with a

third place, 9.875 floor routine. The mark, a season high, was the second-best score awarded and was fueled by a 9.95 from one judge. Millick also tied for second on bars with a 9.85 and finished fifth on beam with a 9.825, the third-best score of the meet. She opened the contest with a 9.625 vault score. Co-Specialists of the Week Alaska Richardson, West Virginia Richardson put together one of her most complete meets against the Razorbacks, tying Arkansas Jaime Pisani, the Nations No. 1 overall gymnast, for first on floor with a career-best 9.9 score. She also tied Pisani for second on vault and matched her season-best mark with a 9.875. Richardson has scored 9.8 or better on floor seven times this season and has hit the benchmark on vault six times. Alicia Talucci, Pittsburgh Talucci (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) earned the honor on Senior Day with three solid performances on the day. She shared the award with West Virginia junior Alaska Richardson. On the vault, Talucci finished second in the meet against the Nittany Lions and scored a 9.850, which she has attained in five meets this season. On beam, she won the event scoring a 9.825 and her 9.90 on the floor was a career high and good enough for second. Rookie of the Week Haley Bodenheimer, Pittsburgh Bodenheimer (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds) is no stranger to the Rookie of the Week honors as this is her fourth time winning the award this season. Against Penn State, she scored a career-best 39.325, which finished just.075 behind the No. 2-ranked all-arounder in the nation. Additionally, Bodenheimer tied her career high on the vault with a 9.825, which was good enough for third overall. She also scored a career-best 9.825 on the bars, also finishing third and took second on the beam with a 9.80. On floor, she finished fourth with the third-best score of the night with a 9.875 - another career high. Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I Kacy Catanzaro, Towson University Kacy Catanzaro led the Tigers to a double win over Rutgers University and West Chester University. On the final rotation, she clinched the meet for the Tigers by earning a 9.875 on vault, finishing first as the Tigers edged Rutgers by 0.25 points. She also finished first on beam with a career high 9.875 score and tied for third place on floor with a 9.800. Catanzaro won the allaround title with a 39.075 score, the second-highest all-around score of her career. She has now topped the 39.00-mark four times in the last six meets, and has now won four all-around titles this season. Rookie of the Week Joyce Li, Yale University Li not only placed first in bars but gathered three career/season highs in her competition. She earned career and season highs placing sixth in Vault with a 9.650; first in Bars with a 9.750; and second in Floor with a 9.750. She also placed second in the All-Around with a score of 38.350. The freshman helped Yale to a season high team score. Katie Goddard, Brown University A senior captain for the Bears, Goddard has upgraded her routines this season and has been a great leader, setting a great example with her drive to improve her scoring potential. This past

week, Katie earned career highs on both of her events. This is a remarkable accomplishment as this is her fourth and final year. Coaches Choice Laura DiPaolo, University of Pennsylvania DiPaolo came in to help her team on bars and achieved her highest score of the season. It was a game time decision as to whether she would compete. Two days earlier she injured her foot and was placed in a boot. Unable to walk, DiPaolo was unable to put any pressure on the foot but still worked through the pain to compete for her team. She is currently ranked 12 th on vault in the ECAC. Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II Monica Mesalles Sallares, University of Bridgeport Mesalles Sallares continues to roll as she took first place in the all-around in two more meets last week. She notched a 39.275 score against Southern Connecticut State University and Brown as Bridgeport won the triangular home meet with a 195.675 team score. She then had a 39.07 at Maryland in a Division I meet that included Penn. At the home meet, the junior won the balance beam (9.875) and was second on both the vault (9.825) and floor exercise (9.875), plus she ended up fifth on the uneven parallel bars (9.7). At Maryland, she won the vault (9.85), was second on the floor (9.85) and fourth on the beam (9.7). The Purple Knights (192.95) were second ahead of Penn in the team standings. Emily Seigel, West Chester University For the third straight week, a WCU gymnast has earned ECAC Division II honors. Seigel follows in teammate Amber Miller s and Alli Aquila s footsteps after notching career highs in two events during a Division I-dominated meet hosted by Rutgers University (with Towson University). Seigel tied for sixth place on the bars and tied for fifth on the beam, notching a 9.625 in both events. Seigel s efforts on the balance beam helped the Golden Rams tie a team event record of 47.7, set earlier this season. A solid team contributor, Seigel has exhibited competitiveness all season long. Rookie of the Week Meghan Cole, Southern Connecticut State University Cole put together a gutsy outing at Bridgeport with Brown, missing practice due to a minor injury during the week leading up to the triangular meet. She registered her highest all-around score of the season with a 38.15, helping the SCSU Owls defeat Division I Brown, 190.975 to 190.375. She contributed to the team s score with a 9.625 on the vault, 9.45 on the bars, 9.45 on the beam and 9.625 on the floor. Coaches Choice of the Week Stephanie Kuska, Southern Connecticut State Univ. Kuska, a senior captain, nailed her vault performance despite leaving very little room for deductions, earning a 9.625 out of a possible 9.8. She helped keep her teammates focused as Southern Connecticut finished ahead of Brown in a three-team meet hosted by the University of Bridgeport, recording a season-high 190.975 team total. She also posted a 9.35 bars score. Mid American Conference

Marie Case, Kent State Facing No. 14 Ohio State on the road, Case led the Golden Flashes to a team season-high in scoring with her all-around victory Friday against the Buckeyes. Case scored a 39.250, just off her MAC-leading mark from a week ago, to claim all-around honors. Along the way, Case led Kent State with a season-tying high 9.875 on the floor and scored a season-best 9.825 to pace the Golden Flashes on the balance beam. Case also tied for seventh on the bars as Kent State finished with a season-best 195.775. Megan Melendez, Northern Illinois NIU s Megan Melendez won both the uneven parallel bars and balance beam events Sunday as the Huskies defeated Illinois State on the road with a team-season high score of 195.100. NIU s overall score tied for the second-highest mark in school history and was the best mark since the 2004 season. Melendez 9.850 on beam is the highest beam score by a Huskie gymnast on that event this year and is her fourth beam title of the season. She raised both her bars and beam alltime bests by.075 Midwest Independent Conference All-Arounder of the Week Megan Fosnow, Southeast Missouri State Fosnow tallied a career-best 39.125 in the all-around, finishing second in the competition, against No. 16 Auburn last Friday. The sophomore tallied scores of 9.750 or better on all four events, highlighted by a second-place score of 9.825 on vault. She also scored 9.800 on bars and 9.750 on both beam and floor. Meg Crowley, Centenary Crowley recorded a career-high 9.875 on floor exercise to lead the Ladies to their best overall score (193.200) in six years. Crowley s mark topped Chantel Turk s (University of Illinois- Chicago) 9.825 performance. Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Katie Yamamura, UC Davis UC Davis junior Katie Yamamura (Palo Alto, CA) broke Flora Bare's 2003 school record with a 39.225 all-around at Sacramento State. She tied her own Aggie benchmark and the top MPSF event score since last year s conference championship of 9.90 on vault, while adding a 9.75 on bars and beam, and 9.825 on floor. Yamamura won meet titles on vault and all-around while sharing first on beam, helping UC Davis to a season-best 194.025. Pac-12 Conference

Samantha Peszek, UCLA Standout sophomore Samantha Peszek enjoyed a career night in helping the Bruins defeat then- No. 2 Oklahoma. The Indianapolis, Ind., native, set personal best in each of her event titles. Peszek scored a 9.925 on beam, 9.950 on the floor and 39.575 in the all-around. Her wins in the all-round and on beam were a team-best fifth of the season. Peszek is averaging a team-best 39.467 in the all-around and 9.879 on the floor. Special Performance of the Week Tauny Frattone, UCLA Senior Tauny Frattone earned the first perfect 10 of her career, sticking a Yurchenko half on, front pike off vault in the win over Oklahoma. She is now tied for the team lead for vault victories with four. Frattone became the 22 nd member of UCLA s 10.0 club and the 13 th on vault. Frattone also helped the Bruins to score a 49.5 on vault, marking the fourth time this season that the UCLA has totaled 49.5 or higher on the event. Southeastern Conference Geralen Stack-Eaton, Alabama Senior Geralen Stack Eaton led Alabama to a 197.175 195.375 win over No. 14 Missouri, with a season best 39.550 to win the all around. She also won the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise against the Tigers, posting scores of 9.9, 9.925 and 9.9 respectively. Her 9.9 on the uneven bars tied her season best while her 9.925 on the beam was her season high on that event. She also scored 9.9 or better on the floor exercise in each of the last four meets. In her four all around appearances this season (which came in the last four meets) she has scored nothing lower than a 39.4. Freshman of the Week Sarah Persinger, Georgia Georgia s Sarah Persinger scored a 39.350 in her first career all-around to lead the Gym Dogs to a 196.575-195.300 win at Michigan on Friday. Persinger recorded season-highs on vault (9.9) and floor (9.875) against the Wolverines, then surpassed her mark on floor with a 9.9 Sunday against NC State. The Mount Holly, N.C., native added a pair of 9.825s on vault and beam to help Georgia post its second-highest score of the season. Western Athletic Conference Thomasina Wallace, San Jose State Wallace, a senior from Pomona, Calif. (Diamond Ranch HS) broke the SJSU all-around record for the third time this season and tied two other school records in a meet at Washington with Central Michigan. Wallace kept her record-breaking season going on Friday night as she broke the allaround record with a 39.575, breaking her old record of 39.525 set at Utah State earlier this season. Wallace won three of the four individual titles at the meet. She tied the SJSU beam record with a 9.900 to win the title. She also won the floor title with a 9.875. On vault, she scored a 9.850, tying for second place. In the final rotation, Wallace tied her own school record she holds on bars with a 9.950. Wallace now ranks eighth nationally in the all-around.

Kaitlin Moorhead, Denver Moorhead, a sophomore from Palo Alto, Calif. (Palo Alto HS) tallied a career-high 9.925 on vault last Monday, contributing to a team score of 49.425 that tied the school record set on Feb. 14, 2004 in a meet against Boise State. On Saturday, Moorhead put up matching scores of 9.825 on both vault and floor. Moorhead s vault RQS is currently 9.815. The sophomore has put together seven vaults of 9.800 or better this season.