Gymnastics Preview
January 05, 2011 11:55 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University gymnastics team has been the pillar of success and consistency over the last three decades. Led by 37-year coach Linda Burdette-Good, the Mountaineers have made four national championship appearances, competed at 32 NCAA Regional Championships and won six East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) titles.
As evidenced by the team’s steady stream of success, Burdette-Good has coached her share of talented and highly motivated teams. Therefore, when she says that the 2011 Mountaineers have the ability to rank among her best squads, one pays attention.
“I think this is the most focused team I’ve coached in many years,” she said. “My better teams have had chemistry, and this squad’s chemistry is phenomenal. This team also is having fun. This team has a lot of the necessary intangibles that championship teams possess. They want to perform, not just for the coaching staff, but for themselves, too.”
WVU returns to the gym after a 19-9 season in which it finished third in the EAGL and played host to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. Though the season suffered a few setbacks, the Mountaineers stuck together, persevered and ended the year with two consecutive 195.0-plus scores, including a fourth-place 195.1 showing at the regional championships, the best finish of any EAGL school.
Burdette-Good will use a mixture of experience and youth this season, with six seniors and seven newcomers comprising the majority of the Mountaineer roster.
Senior all-arounder Amy Bieski is tops among all returnees and has developed into one of the program’s best gymnasts. A five-time 2010 all-EAGL honoree, Bieski earned 505.35 points last season and broke onto the WVU all-time career points list; she enters the season at No. 16 with 1,474.9 points. Strong on all four events, Bieski should have the greatest impact on the vault and floor lineups.
On the cusp of individually qualifying for the national championships each of the last three years, most recently on beam last season, Bieski once again will be one of the strongest all-around competitors in the Southeast region.
“She wants to have a good senior year, and I think she’ll put pressure on herself, but she won’t be too hard,” Burdette-Good explained. “She has upgraded on almost every event. If you did not want to go out there and be a part of the team, compete and get better, you wouldn’t be upgrading, you would be maintaining.
“Amy wants to be better and she wants to do more. She knows that for the team to be successful, we have to compete more difficult routines. For us to get into the top 12, we need more difficulty, and she is leading by example and giving us more difficulty. She is not satisfied with the status-quo.”
Classmate Naja Johnson returns to the Mountaineers’ lineups after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in 2010. A first team all-EAGL bars honoree, Johnson will push to anchor the event in her final season, as well as regain her spot with the floor team.
Faye Meaden and Emily Kerwin also will push for spots on the bars lineup, as the senior co-captains both emerged last season as vital cogs to the event’s success. Meaden, who battled injury and illness her first two years with the program, earned her first career experience last year and was named the EAGL Rookie of the Week twice, while Kerwin is a mainstay on the vault lineup. Additionally, Meaden, the owner of a solid-scoring floor routine, saw action in 10 meets as a two-event specialist.
“We pushed Faye for two seasons, and last year she was one of the ones that helped us get through difficult situations,” explained Burdette-Good. “She stepped up and just kept getting better, and she’s still getting better every day and to have someone do that is amazing and is really motivating for the other student-athletes.”
Stephanie Keaton and Alysha Pretzello round out the senior class. Both key contributors, Keaton will again seek a spot with the vault rotation, while Pretzello looks to continue her success on bars.
Juniors Tina Maloney and Nicole Roach, competing since their freshman season, are each two-event specialists and can push for spots on a third lineup.
Maloney, the 2009 EAGL vault co-champion, possesses one of the most explosive Mountaineer floor routines, and will push to anchor the event, as well as for a spot on the beam rotation.
Roach, a two-time first team all-EAGL bars honoree, looks to earn a national ranking on the event this season. She also will push to return to the beam lineup after a strong debut last year and may see time on floor.
“I think Tina is getting better every year; she’s becoming more consistent and more of a performer rather than a trickster,” Burdette-Good expanded. “Nicole is beautiful. She has gorgeous lines and good form. Her floor is equally as good, and we just need to boost her confidence – she can push for a spot on floor.”
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe headlines a class that looks to contribute significantly this season.
Goldschrafe, a two-event specialist with all-around potential, stoically opened the Mountaineers’ beam rotation last season, as well as flourished on floor. She paced the squad on the event at the regional championships with a 9.825 showing.
Alaska Richardson and transfer Kaylyn Millick also will see time this season. After vaulting in 10 meets last year, Richardson spent the summer upgrading on all events, and should push for a lineup spot on beam and floor.
“Alaska now understands that there is a direct relationship between how you train and how you compete,” said Burdette-Good. “That’s going to help her get into lineups. She is becoming more consistent. She has the skill.”
Millick, a nominee for the 2010 Mid American Conference Gymnast and Freshman of the Year awards at Eastern Michigan, should join Bieski as an all-arounder this season after individually qualifying for last year’s regional championships.
“I think Kaylyn will be an immediate contributor toward the team’s success,” Burdette-Good says. “She really pressed. She has high expectations for herself, and that’s good. That’s why she is so successful.”
Arlene Hathaway also returns looking for her first collegiate experience.
Six freshmen join the Mountaineers this season – Makenzie Bristol, Amanda Carpenter, Marina Galante, Janna Salim, Hope Sloanhoffer and Bethany Yurko. Sloanhoffer has shown the most promise throughout the fall season and has the potential to immediately compete on all four events.
“Hope had an amazing fall with the team,” said Burdette-Good. “She’s really making a statement. She’s training like an upperclassman, and she knows what she has to do. She’s beautiful, and she has a lot of difficulty. I think the fans are really going to enjoy watching her on all four events.”
The Mountaineers will face one of their toughest slates in the program’s 38-year history, as the team is set to compete against three squads that qualified for last season’s 12-team NCAA Championships’ field, including Florida, who finished fifth at the Super Six Championship.
Additionally, WVU will face five opponents ranked in the top 14 of the 2011 GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 13 Missouri and No. 14 Penn State.
WVU’s schedule features 12 meets, including five at the WVU Coliseum, and 13 opponents. The Mountaineers will take to the road six times this season, including a season-opening date with Mizzou on Jan. 7 in Cancun, Mexico. Additionally, the team will meet every EAGL foe, except Maryland, prior to the March 19 league championship in Washington, D.C.
Brimming with confidence and potential, Burdette-Good’s 37th WVU squad is full of promise. Should the team develop as its leader believes it will, the Mountaineers will be making noise on the national scene this season and setting a new standard for WVU gymnastics.
As evidenced by the team’s steady stream of success, Burdette-Good has coached her share of talented and highly motivated teams. Therefore, when she says that the 2011 Mountaineers have the ability to rank among her best squads, one pays attention.
“I think this is the most focused team I’ve coached in many years,” she said. “My better teams have had chemistry, and this squad’s chemistry is phenomenal. This team also is having fun. This team has a lot of the necessary intangibles that championship teams possess. They want to perform, not just for the coaching staff, but for themselves, too.”
WVU returns to the gym after a 19-9 season in which it finished third in the EAGL and played host to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. Though the season suffered a few setbacks, the Mountaineers stuck together, persevered and ended the year with two consecutive 195.0-plus scores, including a fourth-place 195.1 showing at the regional championships, the best finish of any EAGL school.
Burdette-Good will use a mixture of experience and youth this season, with six seniors and seven newcomers comprising the majority of the Mountaineer roster.
Senior all-arounder Amy Bieski is tops among all returnees and has developed into one of the program’s best gymnasts. A five-time 2010 all-EAGL honoree, Bieski earned 505.35 points last season and broke onto the WVU all-time career points list; she enters the season at No. 16 with 1,474.9 points. Strong on all four events, Bieski should have the greatest impact on the vault and floor lineups.
On the cusp of individually qualifying for the national championships each of the last three years, most recently on beam last season, Bieski once again will be one of the strongest all-around competitors in the Southeast region.
“She wants to have a good senior year, and I think she’ll put pressure on herself, but she won’t be too hard,” Burdette-Good explained. “She has upgraded on almost every event. If you did not want to go out there and be a part of the team, compete and get better, you wouldn’t be upgrading, you would be maintaining.
“Amy wants to be better and she wants to do more. She knows that for the team to be successful, we have to compete more difficult routines. For us to get into the top 12, we need more difficulty, and she is leading by example and giving us more difficulty. She is not satisfied with the status-quo.”
Classmate Naja Johnson returns to the Mountaineers’ lineups after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in 2010. A first team all-EAGL bars honoree, Johnson will push to anchor the event in her final season, as well as regain her spot with the floor team.
Faye Meaden and Emily Kerwin also will push for spots on the bars lineup, as the senior co-captains both emerged last season as vital cogs to the event’s success. Meaden, who battled injury and illness her first two years with the program, earned her first career experience last year and was named the EAGL Rookie of the Week twice, while Kerwin is a mainstay on the vault lineup. Additionally, Meaden, the owner of a solid-scoring floor routine, saw action in 10 meets as a two-event specialist.
“We pushed Faye for two seasons, and last year she was one of the ones that helped us get through difficult situations,” explained Burdette-Good. “She stepped up and just kept getting better, and she’s still getting better every day and to have someone do that is amazing and is really motivating for the other student-athletes.”
Stephanie Keaton and Alysha Pretzello round out the senior class. Both key contributors, Keaton will again seek a spot with the vault rotation, while Pretzello looks to continue her success on bars.
Juniors Tina Maloney and Nicole Roach, competing since their freshman season, are each two-event specialists and can push for spots on a third lineup.
Maloney, the 2009 EAGL vault co-champion, possesses one of the most explosive Mountaineer floor routines, and will push to anchor the event, as well as for a spot on the beam rotation.
Roach, a two-time first team all-EAGL bars honoree, looks to earn a national ranking on the event this season. She also will push to return to the beam lineup after a strong debut last year and may see time on floor.
“I think Tina is getting better every year; she’s becoming more consistent and more of a performer rather than a trickster,” Burdette-Good expanded. “Nicole is beautiful. She has gorgeous lines and good form. Her floor is equally as good, and we just need to boost her confidence – she can push for a spot on floor.”
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe headlines a class that looks to contribute significantly this season.
Goldschrafe, a two-event specialist with all-around potential, stoically opened the Mountaineers’ beam rotation last season, as well as flourished on floor. She paced the squad on the event at the regional championships with a 9.825 showing.
Alaska Richardson and transfer Kaylyn Millick also will see time this season. After vaulting in 10 meets last year, Richardson spent the summer upgrading on all events, and should push for a lineup spot on beam and floor.
“Alaska now understands that there is a direct relationship between how you train and how you compete,” said Burdette-Good. “That’s going to help her get into lineups. She is becoming more consistent. She has the skill.”
Millick, a nominee for the 2010 Mid American Conference Gymnast and Freshman of the Year awards at Eastern Michigan, should join Bieski as an all-arounder this season after individually qualifying for last year’s regional championships.
“I think Kaylyn will be an immediate contributor toward the team’s success,” Burdette-Good says. “She really pressed. She has high expectations for herself, and that’s good. That’s why she is so successful.”
Arlene Hathaway also returns looking for her first collegiate experience.
Six freshmen join the Mountaineers this season – Makenzie Bristol, Amanda Carpenter, Marina Galante, Janna Salim, Hope Sloanhoffer and Bethany Yurko. Sloanhoffer has shown the most promise throughout the fall season and has the potential to immediately compete on all four events.
“Hope had an amazing fall with the team,” said Burdette-Good. “She’s really making a statement. She’s training like an upperclassman, and she knows what she has to do. She’s beautiful, and she has a lot of difficulty. I think the fans are really going to enjoy watching her on all four events.”
The Mountaineers will face one of their toughest slates in the program’s 38-year history, as the team is set to compete against three squads that qualified for last season’s 12-team NCAA Championships’ field, including Florida, who finished fifth at the Super Six Championship.
Additionally, WVU will face five opponents ranked in the top 14 of the 2011 GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 3 Florida, No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 13 Missouri and No. 14 Penn State.
WVU’s schedule features 12 meets, including five at the WVU Coliseum, and 13 opponents. The Mountaineers will take to the road six times this season, including a season-opening date with Mizzou on Jan. 7 in Cancun, Mexico. Additionally, the team will meet every EAGL foe, except Maryland, prior to the March 19 league championship in Washington, D.C.
Brimming with confidence and potential, Burdette-Good’s 37th WVU squad is full of promise. Should the team develop as its leader believes it will, the Mountaineers will be making noise on the national scene this season and setting a new standard for WVU gymnastics.
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