Arkansas has named former Razorback gymnast Samantha Cortez to the post of Assistant Coach. Cortez competed for Arkansas from 2005-08 and worked as staff for the team following her graduation.
Illinois Head Coach Kim Landrus has announced the hiring of Rodney Gust as an assistant. He has served for the last two seasons at Yale. Prior to that, he coached at Flipz and GAGE.
Link: Illinois Release
It's another summer of offseason work, and we've unfortunately had to say "goodbye" to some of our favorite seniors. On the women's side, we're going to lose some standout champions like 2011 NCAA AA Champion Kylie Botterman of Michigan, Bama's Kayla Hoffman and UCLA's Brittani McCullough. Although rosters for next season are not finalized, here's a quick summary of the status of Top 25 women's teams from this past season, with their key losses summarized and highlighted.
New Cal Head Coach Danna Durante has hired Justin Howell as an assistant. Howell has coached over 40 NCAA gymnasts while serving as Head Coach and Program Director at Airborne Gymnastics.
Link: Cal Release
Oklahoma has hired Olympian and former BYU star Guard Young as an assistant. He has been most recently coached at Byers. Former OU assistant Rustam Sharipov is now the Head Coach at Ohio State.
Link: OU Release
Towson has hired Becky (nee Robertson) Schaller as an assistant. She was a standout at MSU in the 90s and has been volunteeing at Towson the past year. She has been a club coach at Harford.
Link: Towson Release
Nebraska Head Coach Dan Kendig has announced that Heather Brink will join the program as an assistant coach. She has been coaching since 2006 at Nebraska SOG, and prior to that at the Arizona Sunrays. The 11-time All-American and former National AA champion replaces Danna Durante, who is now the Head Coach at Cal.
Link: NU Release
Bama senor Kayla Hoffman won the prestigious Academic All-American of the Year Award. She was selected from nominees from the winter season, across all sports.
Link: Bama Release
Sam Morreale has been named Head Coach at NIU, replacing Mark Sontag. He has 22 years experience as a coach, including the last nine years at NIU.
Link: NIU Release
Three time NCAA AA champion Jenny Hansen (Kentucky) competed two events at the recent Elite Qualifier. She's 37 and works as a stunt double on "Make It or Break It". See her on UB and BB below.
New Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov has named Casimiro Suarez and Paul Hamm as assistant coaches. A member of the 1980 Cuban Olympic Team, Suarez has been coaching for 20 years, in a variety of club, college and National Team posts, and was most recently at Orlando Metro. Olympic Champion Hamm returns to his alma mater, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2007 (in accounting).
Link: Ohio State Release
The USA Gymnastics Open held an elite qualifier this past weekend. Senior age level competitors needed to hit qualifying scores in order to advance to the Classics (if they have already received their compulsary score): 53.0 as an AAer, 40.5 on three events, or 27.5 on two events. AU commit Caitlin Atkinson placed 3rd in her session but did get a qualifying mark. Bama commit Lauren Beers was 4th in the same session and has previously qualified. The next qualifier is in July.
Link: Senior Results 1 and Senior Results 2
Per Gymn.ca, Ti Liu is reportedly headed to UCLA as a walk-on. The sr. high performance (elite) from Canada's Gymnix club recently placed 4th on BB and 7th on UB at the 2011 Canadian Championships. At the 2010 Canadian Championships, she placed 2nd AA, 2nd on UB and 4th on BB in the National Open 16+ division.
Link: BB and UB Video and YouTube.com Channel