The Athletes

Seniors

Megan Beuckens - An all-arounder since the end of her frosh campaign, Beuckens is one of two Nationals qualifiers on the team (the other is fellow senior MaryAnne Kelley).  Known for her consistency and clean form, Beuckens will enter her senior campaign as one of the most consistent and reliable performers in the Gophers' lineup. "Megan has kind of held us steady with her pace in gymnastics," Jim says.

Catie Christensen - Persisting arm problems have caused the coaching staff to pull the senior off her best events, bars, where Christensen is an all-Big 10 performer. However, while she is on an indefinite hiatus from bars, Christensen has trained more on beam and floor, where she has shown strong improvements, according to the staff. She is much improved on beam, and has a brand-new floor set, and could contribute on either event.

MaryAnne Kelley - Qualifying for Nationals last year provided Kelley with an eye-opening experience, and the coaching staff sees the difference in Kelley's approach this year.  "She came back from that meet and allowed that meet to educate her," Jim says. As a result, Kelley has upgraded routines on all four events, including a piked 1/2 on vault, new connections on beam, and full-ins off bars and to mount floor.

Courtney Norman - The senior, a walkon since her freshman year, has shown steady improvement throughout her career with the Gophers.  Initially a vaulter, Norman cracked the floor lineup as a junior and then developed a 10.0 SV vault. Now, Norman will be looking at continuing the forward progress. She has been training a double layout on floor, and will continue with the Phelps she used most of last season. "She's so competitive, she probably became one of the quickest progressing students in the gym. We're really proud of the effort she's put in."

Juniors

Jenny Alf - Another of the most consistent on the squad, Alf may be looking at a possible all-around berth this season. Her beam and floor were late in the lineup all of last season, and Alf was ranked as high as ninth on beam nationally. Now, she will be looking to add bars to the list with Christensen's injury, and could also vault after learning a Yurchenko entry over the summer. "We're not in a hurry on (vault). On the other hand, we're pushing her bars pretty aggressively."

Leigh Dixon - A member of the vault lineup for almost every meet of her career, Dixon has also been an on-again, off-again bars performer. The junior also has a new floor routine, but will probably be making her biggest contributions on vault.

Kelly Watson - Consistency issues have kept Watson from fully realizing her potential in the Gophers lineup, but the junior is being looked to for the bars lineup this year and also on beam. Watson has two major releases on bars (including a shushunova) and has shown great improvements on beam, according to the staff.

Sophomores

Carrie Hortsch - A back injury in the preseason put Hortsch in the position of playing catchup last year, and the frosh never really got into the scheme of things. This year, she is healthy, and is training vault, beam and floor.

Annie Laastch - An unfortunate ankle injury in the Gophers final regular-season meet at Auburn nearly put an end to Laatsch's season last year. She came back to compete bars at the Regional meet, but it was a disappointing end to the year. "That didn't settle well with her," Jim says. "She's probably going to be working three events for us."  Laatsch is also training vault, in addition to the bars, beam and floor events she competed as a frosh.

Alicia Opsahl - After working both beam and floor at the Regional last year, Opsahl has come back with improved swing on bars and is looking at spot in three lineups for the Gophers. The sophomore has strong presentation on floor, and is consistent on all her events.

Tara Schroeder - Another one of the team's walkons, Schroeder competed vault all season for the Gophers and then added floor when Laatsch went down. As a reward, Schroeder has picked up a new floor routine ("Black Magic Woman") and could work both events as a sophomore.

Mary Skokut - A few minor injuries kept Skokut from contributing as much as expected as a frosh. The sophomore is training upgraded skills on all four events, and is expected to be relied on in the bars and beam lineups at the very least. "People didn't get to really see that much of Mary as we'll hope they'll see this year," Meg says.

Frosh - An Overview

The Gophers got a surprise in the first two weeks of the season when frosh Ali Lim walked off the team due to personal reasons. However, the loss of Lim (expected to contribute on at least two events) has had the effect of rallying the team.

"Mainly just saying 'we don't have her, we can make up the difference in our performances,' " says Meg. "The other thing that (the team has) done, they haven't dwelled on it.  (They've said), 'Let's work towards what we're here for."

The two remaining frosh are looking at contributing on at least one event. The team's other scholarship frosh, Nicole Yunker, tore her anterior cruciate ligament earlier in the year, but is recovering nicely. The coaching staff is bringing her along cautiously, and Yunker could see time on beam especially, but also bars and floor.

Caroline Yernberg, a walk-on from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, has already impressed the team with her work ethic and raw athletic ability, and is in much the same position Schroeder was walking on last year.

"She's really similar in that sense, because she's coming in with that same motivation (Tara had)," Meg says. (continued in Part 3)

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  CONTINUED IN PART 3