Gymnastics: Three Sign with WVU for 2007
November 14, 2005 04:57 PM | General
November 14, 2005
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| Burdette |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University gymnastics coach Linda Burdette today announced that three gymnasts signed their national letters of intent for the 2006-07 academic year. Burdette received signatures from Shelly Purkat, Kiersten Spoerke and Ashley Wilson following the start of the early signing period on Nov. 9.
The 2006 recruiting class will fill three of the team’s 12 allotted scholarships.
“These three girls will come in and help immediately,” said Burdette, who is in her 32nd year at WVU. “All three have experience competing at the national level and will have an impact on our program.”
Purkat (pronounced per-CAT), a native of Edina, Minn., is a third-year Level 10 gymnast who qualified for the Junior Olympic nationals the last two years. A member of Tags Gymnastics in Eden Prairie, Minn., she also placed fifth in the all-around, third on vault and third on the floor exercise at the 2004 state meet.
Purkat is a senior honors student at Edina High School.
Spoerke (pronounced SPUR-key), a native of Suwanee, Ga., is a fifth-year Level 10 gymnast as a member of the Georgia Gymnastics Academy in Lawrenceville, Ga.
She is a two-time Junior Olympic national qualifier and a four-time regional qualifier having placed as high as second on the floor exercise at the 2005 regional, including sixth on the uneven bars and sixth in the all-around.
A senior at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Spoerke boasts a 4.0 GPA and is ranked 14th in her graduating class.
Wilson, a native of St. Albans, W.Va., will become the third West Virginian on the team next year joining current sophomore Kara Weaver (Ravenswood) and freshman Mehgan Morris (Belle), the latter a former club teammate of Wilson’s at the Flip Flop Shop in Ripley.
A regional qualifier the last two years, Wilson placed as high as eighth on the vault in the 2004 regional. She also placed first on the balance beam and second in the all-around at this year’s state meet.
Wilson is a senior at St. Albans High School where she is a member of the National Honor Society.
