OU tops the Toester.com GymInfo Men's Preseason Coaches' Poll, edging out Illinois in 2nd place. Illinois, however, received more first place votes. Michigan received two first place votes, and Stanford three.
Several NCAAers, past, present and future, competed at the World Championships. The injury-beset USA team competes on Saturday (Tokyo time). The Women's Preliminaries Day 1 competition are now complete (through Session 5), and here's an NCAA recap:
DU's Jessica Lopez (Venezuela) is in fifth AA and looks to advance to the AA final, with solid scores on UB (3rd) and FX (6th).
UCLA signee Peng Peng Lee (Canada) is in sixth after problems on BB. Her best finish was on UB (5th).
Stanford's Kristina Vaculik (Canada) was 12th, with her best event on BB.
Iowa grad Houry Gebeshian was 59th for Armenia; she competed watered down sets. WVU commit Jaida Lawrence (Jamaica) placed 77th.
Washington has announced the hiring of Olympian and former NCAA champion Elise Ray as an assistant coach. After performing with Cirque du Soleil, Ray has been coaching at Carroll in Maryland.
Link: UW Release
Named to the Women's World Championships:
Gabrielle Douglas
Anna Li
McKayla Maroney
Alexandra Raisman
Alicia Sacramone
Sabrina Vega
Jordyn Wieber
Alternate: Shawn Johnson
Named to the Women's Pan American Games:
NC State has announced the hiring of former Illinois Head Coach Bob Starkell as an assistant.
Link: NC State Release
It's been ten years since the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. Today we honor the heroes of September 11th, 2001, including those who lost their lives. One of those people, Mari-Rae Sopper, closely touched the collegiate gymnastics community. As you may know, Mari-Rae Sopper was Head Coach of the University of California, Santa Barbara's women's gymnastics team. She was also a former standout collegiate gymnast and team captain for Iowa State. Many of you knew her in the capacity of coach, teammate, competitor, colleague and friend.
Ohio State has announced it has fired Men's assistant coach Paul Hamm. Hamm was arrested over the weekend, after an alleged assault.
Link: Ohio State Release
Every fall, a new set of Women's code modifications are published by the NCAA. These code modifications outline variances in the NCAA code from the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Level 10 code. This is the means by which all routines are evaluated during the upcoming season. The latest update contains some changes for the new season, with balance beam the most impacted. Here's a summary of the changes:
Craig Ballard has joined the staff at Kent State, according to a school release. He had been an assistant at Bowling Green.
Link: Kent State Release
Jackie Fain has been named the new Head Coach at Centenary, according to a school release. She had been an assistant at TWU, and has experience as a coach, judge and former UK competitor.
Link: Centenary Release
Vaculik is taking a year off from Stanford to prepare for upcoming international competitions. So far she has earned a spot at Worlds. Others named to the team are UCLA recruit Peng Peng Lee, Dominique Pegg, Talia Chiarelli, Mikaela Gerber, Coralie Leblond-Chartrand, and Madeline Gardiner.
USU announces that TeShawne Jackson has been named Assistant Coach. Jackson has previously coached at Iowa State, Ball State and William and Mary.
Former Missouri standout Sarah Shire returns to the program in a staff position. Shire is pursuing a Masters in Sports Psychology.