Women’s Gymnastics SID Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics Andy Hansen Graduate Assistant E-Mail: [email protected] Office: (405) 325-8299 Weekly Release Fax: (405) 325-7623 2006 January 27, 2006 Web: www.SoonerSports.com Meet No. 3: TWU and Air Force 2006 Schedule Where: Denton, Texas Date Opponent Location/Result Kitty Magee Arena (1,800) Jan. 6 Cancun Gymnastics Classic (4th, 193.325) Jan. 20 vs. Southern Utah (Win, 195.925) When: January 29, 2006 No. 8 Jan. 29 at TWU, Air Force Denton, Texas Time: 2 p.m. Feb. 4 vs. Nebraska * Norman, Okla. Opponent: TWU (2-3-1), Air Force (0-4) NR Feb. 10 vs. Iowa State * Norman, Okla. Feb. 12 at Georgia Athens, Ga. OVERALL RECORD: 2-3 Feb. 17 at Missouri * Columbia, Mo. BIG 12 RECORD: 0-0 NR Feb. 24 at LSU Baton Rouge, La. TWU, AIR FORCE PREVIEW Feb. 26 at Centenary Shreveport, La. The Oklahoma Sooners (2-3) face Texas Woman’s University (2-3-1) and Air Force March 3 vs. TWU Norman, Okla. Academy (0-4) Sunday, Jan. 29, in Denton, Texas. The meet is scheduled to start March 10 vs. Centenary Norman, Okla. at 2 p.m. in the Kitty Magee Arena. Oklahoma is coming off a 195.925-190.050 vic- March 17 at Kent State Kent, Ohio tory over Southern Utah in their first home meet of the season. With the victory, the Sooners moved to 6-0 in home openers under head coach Steve Nunno. March 25 Big 12 Championship Lincoln, Neb. Home Meets Compete at the Howard McCasland Field House (Capacity: 2,000) OU enters Sunday’s triangular meet as the No. 8 ranked team in the nation, while * - Big 12 Conference both TWU and Air Force are not ranked. The Sooners are now the highest ranked team in the Big 12 Conference and crack the top 10 for the second time this sea- 2006 Roster son. “We are currently the top-ranked team in the Big 12,” said head coach Steve Nunno. Name Ht. Yr. Hometown “I’m proud of the way our team has been performing and the hard work they have Anderson, Tara 5-3 Sr. Phoenix, Ariz. put into the gym. We need to keep refining our routines, but I think we are on the right track in competing in a competitive Big 12 Conference.” Borda, Coral 5-4 Sr. Rio de Janero, Brazil Cooney, Ashley 5-4 Jr. Plano, Texas TWU enters the meet coming off a second-place finish (190.900) in a quadrangular Cox, Kristen 5-0 Sr. Memphis, Tenn. meet with New Hampshire, San Jose State and Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Pio- neers conclude their three-meet homestand on Sunday and will face the Sooners DeProspero, Haley 5-0 Fr. McKinney, Texas again on March 3 in Norman. Hinkis, Caitlin 5-1 So. Simsbury, Conn. Jackson, Ashley 5-1 Fr. Hudsonville, Mich. “TWU is a strong team with tremendous athletic ability,” Nunno said. “They will Schumann, Brittney 5-2 Jr. McQueeney, Texas bring tough competition and always have great fan support.” Lesko, Gina 5-0 Fr. Allen, Texas Air Force enters the meet coming off a third-place finish (175.050) versus Cente- LoPiccolo, Stephanie 4-11 So. Melbourne, Australia nary and Missouri. Senior Lauren Robison has been the Falcon’s top performer this Redmond, Kiara 5-1 So. Whittier, Calf. season. Last week, she collected Air Force’s top scores on every event, including a team-best 37.475 in the all-around to finish fourth. Willin, Tiffany 5-3 Jr. Fort Myers, Fla. Winn, Lori 5-0 Jr. Oklahoma City, Okla. “Air Force is a little down this year but always comes ready to compete,” Nunno said. “Our team will look to come out and improve on last week’s results.” The Sooners’ performance against Southern Utah saw improvement from the first meet of the season at the Cancun Classic. 2006 Record Breakdown Pronunciation Guide Overall: 2-3 “I’m hoping this weekend we will continue to improve and perform even better then Coral Borda core-al BORE-da we did against Southern Utah,” Nunno said. “It would be great to carry over some Big 12: 0-0 Haley DeProspero de-PROSS-pero momentum into our meet against Nebraska.” Ranked Opponent: 1-3 Brittney Schumann Shoe-men Unranked Opponent: 1-0 Stephanie LoPiccolo lo-PICK-o-low The Sooners will be back at home on Feb. 4 to open Big 12 Conference play versus Steve Nunno NEW-no Home: 1-0 Kiara Redmond Key-ara Red-Mond Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are currently ranked No. 12 and carry a 4-2-1 record. Away: 0-0 Lori Winn Win Tiffany Willin Will-in 5 Conference Championships - 17 All-Americans - 42 Conference Champions 4 NCAA National Appearances - 2 NCAA All-AroundNeutral Titles Site: -1-3 4 NCAA All-Around Appearances Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics 2006 2006 Head Coach Steve Nunno SCOUTING AIR FORCE The Air Force women’s gymnastics team holds an 0-4 record under first-year head Two-time USA Olympic Coach Steve Nunno is one coach Holly Tedeschi. The Falcons posted their best team total (175.050) of the season of the most successful gymnastics coaches ever in with a third place finish versus Centenary and Missouri on Jan. 20, in Shreveport, La. the United States. At the elite level, his gymnasts The last time OU and Air Force met was in 2004 in Norman. The Sooners posted a have won more national and international medals 197.150 team score to defeat the Falcons (188.650). than any other coach in the country. Now at the helm of the University of Oklahoma, Nunno has The team’s only senior, Lauren Robison brings a solid and successful three-year career started to rewrite the record books as well. to the Falcons’ rotation. A 2004 USAG All-American in the all-around, Robison has also racked up numerous accolades from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, including The 2005 OU women’s gymnastics team finished all-conference second-team honors on the uneven bars, floor exercise and all-around the season 19-17 and earned a 12th place finish at the NCAA Champi- as a junior. Joining Robison among the team’s leaders are a trio of juniors, who have onships. For the first time in history, Nunno led the Sooners to a second served on the Falcons’ team throughout their collegiate careers. The group is led by consecutive appearance at the NCAA National Championships. all-arounder Sashonna Iwaniec, who solidified her sophomore campaign with USAG All-America honors in the all-around. In 2004, he led OU to its first Big 12 conference title ever. In addi- tion, his athletes won three out of four event titles and the all-around title at the 2004 Big 12 Championship. His squad then went on to win the program’s first regional title, the 2004 West Regional. As a result, Air Force Academy the team advanced to the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in Rank: NR school history and did so with the highest national ranking ever (No. 5) 2006 Record: 0-4 for an OU team. Three Sooners (Erin LaBarr, Kasie Tamayo and Tiffany 2005 Record: 4-26 Willin) achieved All-America honors and became the first Sooners to be Letterwinners R/L: 7/3 honored as All-Americans in 15 years. Coach: Holly Tedeschi 0-4 (1) “It’s taken us five years to build a program that can now contend for a 2005 MPSF Championship Finish: Fifth top spot amongst the nation’s best teams. I believe that we now have 2005 USAG Championship Finish: Seventh our best team in the history of the program here at the University of Oklahoma.” After 20 years of elite coaching excellence, Nunno is entering his sixth SCOUTING TEXAS WOMAN’S year as the head coach at OU. He has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year two times. His Sooner squads have been ranked in the regular Oklahoma will face the TWU Pioneers twice during the 2006 schedule. The next meet- season’s top 10 during for the past four seasons. In his five years, ing between the two teams will be on March 3 at the Howard McCasland Field House. Nunno had led the Sooners to a 94-58 mark and three appearances TWU’s head coach Frank Kudlac enters his 27th season with the Pioneers and holds a at the NCAA Championship. In addition, four Sooners have garnered 391-418-2 all-time record in regular season meets. He has helped guide TWU from a All-America honors and three others have earned Big 12 Gymnasts of club sport in 1978 to seven USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships. The the Year awards (Marianna Goncalves-2002, Kasie Tamayo-2004 and Pioneers won four consecutive USAG titles from 1993-1996, and recaptured the crown in 1998, 2000, and again in 2003 in front of a hometown crowd. Erin LaBarr-2005). In 2005, the Pioneers captured second-place finishes at the Midwest Independent Con- ference Championships and the USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships. Last season, the Sooners were victorious in both meetings against the Pioneers. OU Nunno’s Record At OU topped TWU in the first meet 193.6-188.65 in Denton, Texas, and won the second meet in Norman, 196.325-191.425. 2001* 21-11 Big 12: 3rd | NCAA: 10th 2002 16-6 Big 12: 3rd | NCAA Regional: 3rd 2003 18-11 Big 12: 2nd | NCAA Regional: 4th 2004 20-13 Big 12: 1st | NCAA: 11th Texas Woman’s University 2005 19-17 Big 12: 3rd | NCAA: 12th Rank: NR 2006 2-3 Big 12: | NCAA: 2006 Record: 2-3-1 Total: 96-61 (.611 winning percentage) 2005 Record: 4-15 * co-head coach with Becky Switzer Letterwinners R/L: 8/9 Coach: Frank Kudlac 391-418-2 (27) 2005 Midwest Independent Finish: Second 2005 USAG Championship Finish: Second Sooners 5 Conference Championships - 17 All-Americans - 42 Conference Champions 2 Oklahoma Women’s Gymnastics 2006 Quick Facts SOONER NOTES General Information The Rankings Location ..............................................................................