Air Force has announced a six man incoming class for their Men's program. The six have started basic training.
Tyler Huebner - San Antonio, Texas
Colton Wulf - Wheat Ridge, Colo.
Mac Ritchie - Concord, N.C.
Ben Zaiser - Mars, Pa.
Kyle Baker - Union, Ky.
Patrick Duffy - Albuquerque, N.M.
Baker trains at Queen City Gymnastics and is a Regional qualifier.
Duffy trains at Gold Cup.
Huebner trains at Alamo Gymnastics.
Ritchie trains at G&J Gymnastics. He finished 61st AA in the prelims at the 2010 JO Nationals.
Zaiser trains at the Pittsburg Northstars in PA and is the younger brother of gymnasts Aaron (Air Force) and Rebekah (Florida). He finished 121st AA at the 2010 JO Nationals.
Wuf's commit was covered in a prior news item.
Link: Air Force Release
Cal Men's Head Coach Barry Weiner has retired, the school has announced. Weiner retires after 19 years at the helm at Cal. His retirement comes amidst reports that Cal boosters and alumni are mobilizing in face of the threat of the entire Cal gymnastics program, due to the ongoing California budget crisis.
Link: Cal Release
According to a Stanford press release sent to CGFs, Tabitha Yim is the new assistant coach at Stanford. The press release reminds us that "Yim was a 14-time All-American at Stanford from 2005-08 – earning the most All-America honors in school history – and had 13 first-team selections. She placed among the top 10 in the NCAA all-around competition all four years and twice won Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA regional all-around titles."
Press ReleaseJD Reive has been named Head Coach at Iowa, according to a school release. Reive replaces Tom Dunn, who retired at the end of the 2010 season. For the last seven seaons, he has served as an assistant at Stanford.
Link: Iowa Release
Haley Scaman, L10 from IGI in Illinois, has verbally committed to OU for the 2012-13 season. Scaman turned in great results this season, including a 1st AA (1st FX) at the Chicago Style and a 1st AA (1st V) at her state meet. She won vault at most of her meets and wrapped up her season with a share of the VT title at the JO Nationals. She also placed 7th AA and tied for 3rd on FX and 4th on UB at Nationals.
Arkansas, Auburn, Illinois, North Carolina State, Utah and Washington have been selected to host the 2012 regional meets.
Michigan announced the addition of Terea Arthur and Tori Kane to the incoming class for 2010-2011. Arthur's commit was covered in a prior news item. Kane is a L10 who trains at Will-Moor in New Jersey and is a teammate of Michigan signee Shelby Geis. She missed much of the 2008-2009 season with an injury but competed at this year's Region VII L10 Regionals.
Link: Michigan Release and Kane's YouTube.com Channel
Courtney Willoughby, L10 from Brestyans Gymnastics in Massachusetts, has given George Washington University a verbal commitment. She finished 2nd AA (1st FX) at this year's Sand Dollar meet and 2nd AA at the All Olympia meet. She went on to finish 3rd AA at her state meet and a 2nd AA finish at regionals qualified her to JO Nationals.
Kelley Higgins, L10 from GymstradaGymnastics in Virginia, will compete for Towson next season. She finished 15th AA at the Region 7 Championships this season.
Megan Whitney will transfer from Utah to Washington, according to a UW release. Whitney trained at the Desert Devils, the same club as incoming UW frosh Aliza Vaccher. Whitney is a former runner-up at the L10 Nationals.
Link: UW Release
Kylie Schermann of TAGS Apple Valley in Minnesota has committed to Minnesota for 2011-2012, according to her club. Schermann finished tied for 7th on BB, 9th on FX and 21st AA at the 2010 L10 Nationals, Senior C.
Link: Club Web Site
Utah has officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, further strengthening an already strong gymnastics conference. They currently compete as part of the WAC, which does not sponsor a conference championship. Eight teams currently now support the Women's sport in the Pac-10. Utah will begin Pac-10 competition for the 2011-2012 school year.
Colorado had previously announced it's intention to join the Pac-10 after NU moved from the Big 12 to the Big 10. Shortly thereafter, Boise State moved to the MWC. This all started a chain reaction of negotiations between schools, conferences (Big 10, Pac 10, and Big 12) and television networks. In the end, the remaining schools in the Big 12 decided to stay together as a conference after a new television deal was assembled that satisfied Texas. Some pundits speculated that the major sports television networks had a vested interest in preventing the spread of mega-conferences, each with their own television channels.
However, there is speculation that although the activity has settled down, it is not yet completed. Some schools, and more importnatly, boosters are still seeking out the best options for their schools.
Link: SLC Tribune Article and Utah Press Conference Transcript
Steve Shephard has stepped down as Head Coach at Penn State to pursue other career opportunities, according to a school release. He said in a statement, "I have decided to retire from coaching after a 30 year career in gymnastics, to pursue other career opportunities. It has been my great honor, and privilege, to work with all of the gifted young people associated with this program over the last 21 years."
Link: PSU Release and Daily Collegian Coverage, Including Interviews
Organization is an important component in the college search for athletes and completing a college-bound assessment for what you would like to achieve is a great way to start! Think of the assessment as the seed you want to plant to grow your recruiting effort. What grows will be determined by how you cultivate it from start to finish.
Looking at the “big picture” can be a tall task for most high school-aged athletes, but if you can begin with the end game in mind and work backwards in developing your personal plan for success, you will most likely run into the college assessment near the beginning of the checklist.
Vicki Chliszczyk has been named the Head Coach at Towson, replacing Dick Filbert, who retired. Chliszczyk has been an assistant for the past five season at Maryland and is a native of Canada, where she competed in gymanstics. She is just the fourth Head Coach in the 43 year history of the program. The full Towson release follows below.