Gymnastics is a sport that is rarely about wins and losses. Rather, it is a sport where numbers mean everything
And the Gophers women’s gymnastics team’s 2002 season, the best in school history, was all about numbers:
Twelve
The number of gymnasts who competed at last weekend’s NCAA Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala., just the second time in school history the team has qualified for the national championships.
Ten
Actually, two of them-the number of perfect 10s Minnesota received during a meet at UCLA on March 3rd. Freshman Carolyn Yernberg and senior Courtney Norman achieved perfection on successive vaults, becoming the first gymnasts in Gopher history to receive 10s.
Nine
The Gophers’ ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships was the best in school history, topping the 10th-place finish Minnesota posted in 1997.
Four
The number of seniors-Megan Bueckens, Catie Christensen, MaryAnne Kelley, and Norman-that will have to be replaced next season. Bueckens and Kelley were both individual national championship qualifiers. Norman was ranked 15th nationally in the vault with a 9.89 average.
Three
The number of national coaching awards Minnesota received this year. Jim and Meg Stephenson were named Big Ten and Southeast Regional Coaches of the Year while assistant Doug Day received the National Assistant Coach of the Year.
Two
Kelley and Laatsch both scored 9.9s on floor exercise at the national preliminaries and were named first-team All-Americans on the event.
One
Kelley was Minnesota’s first gymnast to earn All-American honors in consecutive years, adding her first-team selection on floor exercise and second-team honors in the all-around to her second-team choice on vault last season.
Thirty-five hundredths
The point margin by which Minnesota missed qualifying for the Super Six last weekend, losing to third-place Stanford 196.05-195.7.
The Gophers will be back in the gym later this week, and have already begun preparation for next season hoping to achieve the goal that eluded them last weekend.
“The thing I hope is carried over from this year is the team’s ambition to achieve,” Jim Stephenson said. “Contending for a Big Ten title and getting into the Super Six are possibilities next season, but achieving those goals will be (tough).”
Stephenson said the team’s returning core has a better idea of what must be done to qualify for the Super Six next year, but acknowledged replacing the seniors-especially Kelley-presents a challenge.
“If MaryAnne can be replaced, then Annie Laatsch is the one to step into those shoes,” he said. “She’s working on her vault to the point where she can compete in the all-around, but I don’t think one person will be able to completely replace MaryAnne.”
Laatsch and Skokut will likely participate in the all-around for the Gophers next season. Meanwhile, Minnesota will look to Alf and sophomore Alicia Opsahl on balance beam and Yernberg on vault to make greater contributions.
Laatsch has the ability to take over Kelley’s spot on floor exercise, and is already the team’s best performer on uneven bars, but Kelley leaves the biggest hole on balance beam.
While Laatsch was the team’s second-best performer on beam this year, she lacked the difficulty in her routine Kelley had, and will need to upgrade to consistently achieve the high scores Kelley posted.
Feeding off the considerable enthusiasm from last weekend’s meet, the revitalized squad will return to the gym preparing to make another run at the Super Six next year.
And, if the Gophers can qualify for the national championships again next season and advance to the Super Six, there is only one number that could describe their success:
Zero: the number of runs like it in school history.
