TWU gymnasts Arno and Zimmerman win USAG National Titles on bars and beam

by PegNews wire

Senior Courtney Arno and freshman Rachel Zimmerman captured individual event titles at the 2007 USAG National Championships on Saturday night in Seattle, Washington.

Arno (pictured) won the uneven bars national championship with a perfectly executed routine that earned her a 9.825 score.

“Courtney performed just as I thought she would. She’s been consistently excellent all season long, and tonight was no different. Her goal at the beginning of the season was to win a USAG bars championship. She accomplished that goal tonight and I couldn’t be more proud of her,” said TWU head coach Frank Kudlac.

“To win championships in two different events is a phenomenal achievement,” continued Kudlac. “Courtney deserves it though. She has worked so hard this season and to see her finish on top like this is very rewarding.”

Arno now has two USAG national individual event championships on her resume. She captured the 2006 USAG national championship on balance beam. Arno’s win also extended the Pioneers team dominance on bars at the national championship competition. Bethany Rehm won the 2006 USAG individual bar championship and Brisa Fuentes was the co-champion on the event at the 2005 USAG National Championships.

Zimmerman claimed the national championship on balance beam with what Kudlac described as a “poised” performance. Zimmerman, the last of ten competitors on the event, flawlessly executed her routine to win the title with a career-high score of 9.875.

“Rachel was amazing. Going last on an event is not an easy position to be in, especially for a freshman. But Rachel stepped up. Her performance was easily her best of the season and she clearly earned the title,” said Kudlac.

Two other TWU gymnasts - senior Catherine Schnoes and sophomore Amy Hulbert – also took part in the individual event finals. Schnoes scored a 9.425 to finish in seventh place on vault. Hulbert totaled a 9.200 on floor and tied for eighth place. Towson’s Christina Ghani won the vault championship with a score of 9.850 while Cornell’s Kari Kucera and Ghani tied for the floor title with matching 9.875 scores.

Schnoes did, however, walk away with a trophy of her own. The senior from Coppell, Texas won the 2007 Mari-Rae Soper Award, presented annually to a USAG female gymnast in recognition of their passion, dedication and devotion to the sport of gymnastics.

“It is so appropriate to see Catherine win the Soper award. She is a full-time mother, a full-time wife, and a full-time student. Yet, she still is able to compete at a national championship level. She is richly deserving of this honor,” stated Kudlac.

The 2007 USAG All-American teams were also announced on Saturday night. Four TWU gymnasts earned first team honors – Arno on bars and beam, Hulbert on floor, Zimmerman on beam, and Schnoes on vault. Hulbert (vault), Zimmerman (floor), and sophomores Brittany Parker (vault) and Tonya Pipkorn (floor) were chosen for the second team.

“To have eight kids recognized as USAG All-Americans speaks volumes about the quality of our program,” said Kudlac. “We have a legacy of gymnastics excellence at TWU and our 2007 team certainly continued that tradition.”

Source: TWU