University of Minnesota Athletics
Senior Gymnast Carolyn Yernberg: Reflecting on Her Career
4/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Carolyn made her mark in Gopher gymnastics history as a freshman, becoming the first Minnesota gymnast to score a perfect 10, doing so on the vault in a meet at UCLA. Many more top performances have followed, and the list of awards continues to grow. She holds a share of the school record in two events, the vault (10.0) and the floor exercise (9.975). She has been a three-time All-Big Ten honoree, and a three-time Academic All- Big Ten award winner. Carolyn was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice during her senior season. At the conference championship in March, Carolyn was named the 2005 Co-Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, becoming only the third Minnesota gymnast to win the award. She has taken first place on the vault 16 times in her career, and won the floor exercise 14 times.
As her senior season comes to a close, I talked to Carolyn about her career, and learned that her college experience had beneficial in so many ways. When I asked Carolyn about the thing she is most proud of, she didn’t brag about the awards or the records she set as a gymnast. “This sounds cheesy, but the thing I’m most proud of is becoming the person I am, and figuring out who I am,” Carolyn said. “I never dreamed that I would come this far in gymnastics, and it’s nice that I’ve had success as a gymnast, but my biggest successes have been outside of gymnastics.”
Minnesota’s coaches, Jim and Meg Stephenson and Doug Day, pride themselves on running a teaching program. Their athletes learn about much more than gymnastics, as the coaches take the time to prepare the gymnasts for life beyond college. This effort seems to have had quite an impact on Carolyn. There are many bits of wisdom that her coaches have shared with her, many of which apply to gymnastics, but are also important life lessons. “Doug always tells me “don’t think” when I’m having trouble,” Carolyn explained. “Sometimes I get too stressed out about something, I over-analyze, or I start to doubt my ability. The coaches remind us not to think about things too much, and just trust that we’re good enough to do what we need to do. They also remind us to have fun.”
Throughout our talk, I heard about many other things that Carolyn has learned during her four years as a Golden Gopher, and they read like a how-to manual that every college freshman should read. “I’ve learned that I can’t let the small things get to me,” she said. “I figured out that in some situations I need to toughen up and not be so sensitive. I’ve learned to relax and let things play out, to roll with the punches when something unexpected happens. I’ve become comfortable with being the person I am and staying true to myself. I’ve been put into a close-knit group of people who have different personalities, and I’ve learned how to be understanding of different types of people and become friends with all of them.”
If Carolyn were to share advice with next year’s incoming freshman, she listed similar words of wisdom. “I would tell them not to get stressed out right away, because the beginning is the most difficult. They shouldn’t be too cocky, either, they need to have respect for their older teammates and coaches,” she said. “My four years went by really fast, so I would tell them to enjoy their time here, and don’t take anything for granted. Most importantly, have fun.”
Carolyn may get to share these sentiments with next year’s incoming team members as she hopes to work with the team next fall. Even though it seems that Carolyn is ready to take on the world, she will be spending a little more time at the university. She will be back in school next fall to complete her degree in landscape architecture in order to graduate in December. After she finishes her bachelor’s degree, she plans to attend graduate school, and is considering attending school outside of Minnesota. “I love Minnesota and the Twin Cities, and I definitely see myself coming back here, but I think it would be a good experience to be somewhere else for awhile,” Carolyn explained.
When Carolyn’s competitive career ends this month, there will inevitably be some adjustments in her life. While she claims to be ready to be done with gymnastics, there will be some difficult changes once she’s no longer a member of the team. “I will miss seeing my teammates all the time, that will be a huge change,” she said. “I’ll miss performing too, all gymnasts love to perform and show off. I’ll miss flipping, it seems like a simple thing, but it’s so fun. Once you’re a gymnast, you never really leave the sport. I’ll still play around in the gym, and I would like to coach. I don’t want to coach as a full-time job, but I would like to coach part time, maybe a few nights a week.”
When asked about her favorite competitions, she said that she really enjoyed the bus trips. That’s right, she was more excited about riding a bus to Iowa City, Iowa, or Lincoln, Neb., than the big cities or warm-weather destinations in the middle of winter. “The bus trips are so much fun,” she explained. “Everyone gets silly on the way home, it’s a good bonding time, and we have a lot of fun.”
As far as home meets go, she said that senior night was really special for her this season, but the meet against Iowa was also a highlight because it was their first home win against a Big Ten opponent this season.
Carolyn admits that she didn’t really know what to expect when she first arrived on campus in the fall of 2001, but her journey through college was better than she could have imagined. She says that the only thing that she wishes had happened differently is that she would have liked to have trained and competed in the all around. However, she isn’t sure that she would have been as successful on the vault and floor if she had trained on all four events. “I would like to think that I could have been successful in the all around, but I also did really well concentrating on just two events. I have no regrets, things turned out great,” she said.
Judging by the long list of awards and accomplishments that Carolyn has earned in her career with the Gophers, things couldn’t have turned out much better. She will end her competitive gymnastics career as one of the most decorated athletes in a program with a history of success. Carolyn has accomplished goals she set in the gym, in the classroom, and in life, and has become a shining example of what college athletics is all about.
Story by Sara Berhow, Athletic Communications contact for women's gymnastics The story of Carolyn Yernberg’s four-year career with the Gopher women’s gymnastics team couldn’t have unfolded in a better way. Carolyn’s experience as a collegiate student- athlete is about as perfect of a success story as one could imagine. She came to the Gopher program as a walk-on athlete after already making the decision to attend Minnesota for the academic programs. She entered her freshman year on campus a little unsure of whether or not she belonged on the team, doubting if she was good enough to make it. Four years later, she will end her competitive career confident of her abilities, both inside and outside the gym. Her list of awards and accomplishments in gymnastics is impressive, but even more important are the life lessons she’s learned and personal growth that Carolyn has experienced in her college career.
Carolyn made her mark in Gopher gymnastics history as a freshman, becoming the first Minnesota gymnast to score a perfect 10, doing so on the vault in a meet at UCLA. Many more top performances have followed, and the list of awards continues to grow. She holds a share of the school record in two events, the vault (10.0) and the floor exercise (9.975). She has been a three-time All-Big Ten honoree, and a three-time Academic All- Big Ten award winner. Carolyn was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice during her senior season. At the conference championship in March, Carolyn was named the 2005 Co-Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, becoming only the third Minnesota gymnast to win the award. She has taken first place on the vault 16 times in her career, and won the floor exercise 14 times.
As her senior season comes to a close, I talked to Carolyn about her career, and learned that her college experience had beneficial in so many ways. When I asked Carolyn about the thing she is most proud of, she didn’t brag about the awards or the records she set as a gymnast. “This sounds cheesy, but the thing I’m most proud of is becoming the person I am, and figuring out who I am,” Carolyn said. “I never dreamed that I would come this far in gymnastics, and it’s nice that I’ve had success as a gymnast, but my biggest successes have been outside of gymnastics.”
Minnesota’s coaches, Jim and Meg Stephenson and Doug Day, pride themselves on running a teaching program. Their athletes learn about much more than gymnastics, as the coaches take the time to prepare the gymnasts for life beyond college. This effort seems to have had quite an impact on Carolyn. There are many bits of wisdom that her coaches have shared with her, many of which apply to gymnastics, but are also important life lessons. “Doug always tells me “don’t think” when I’m having trouble,” Carolyn explained. “Sometimes I get too stressed out about something, I over-analyze, or I start to doubt my ability. The coaches remind us not to think about things too much, and just trust that we’re good enough to do what we need to do. They also remind us to have fun.”
Throughout our talk, I heard about many other things that Carolyn has learned during her four years as a Golden Gopher, and they read like a how-to manual that every college freshman should read. “I’ve learned that I can’t let the small things get to me,” she said. “I figured out that in some situations I need to toughen up and not be so sensitive. I’ve learned to relax and let things play out, to roll with the punches when something unexpected happens. I’ve become comfortable with being the person I am and staying true to myself. I’ve been put into a close-knit group of people who have different personalities, and I’ve learned how to be understanding of different types of people and become friends with all of them.”
If Carolyn were to share advice with next year’s incoming freshman, she listed similar words of wisdom. “I would tell them not to get stressed out right away, because the beginning is the most difficult. They shouldn’t be too cocky, either, they need to have respect for their older teammates and coaches,” she said. “My four years went by really fast, so I would tell them to enjoy their time here, and don’t take anything for granted. Most importantly, have fun.”
Carolyn may get to share these sentiments with next year’s incoming team members as she hopes to work with the team next fall. Even though it seems that Carolyn is ready to take on the world, she will be spending a little more time at the university. She will be back in school next fall to complete her degree in landscape architecture in order to graduate in December. After she finishes her bachelor’s degree, she plans to attend graduate school, and is considering attending school outside of Minnesota. “I love Minnesota and the Twin Cities, and I definitely see myself coming back here, but I think it would be a good experience to be somewhere else for awhile,” Carolyn explained.
When Carolyn’s competitive career ends this month, there will inevitably be some adjustments in her life. While she claims to be ready to be done with gymnastics, there will be some difficult changes once she’s no longer a member of the team. “I will miss seeing my teammates all the time, that will be a huge change,” she said. “I’ll miss performing too, all gymnasts love to perform and show off. I’ll miss flipping, it seems like a simple thing, but it’s so fun. Once you’re a gymnast, you never really leave the sport. I’ll still play around in the gym, and I would like to coach. I don’t want to coach as a full-time job, but I would like to coach part time, maybe a few nights a week.”
When asked about her favorite competitions, she said that she really enjoyed the bus trips. That’s right, she was more excited about riding a bus to Iowa City, Iowa, or Lincoln, Neb., than the big cities or warm-weather destinations in the middle of winter. “The bus trips are so much fun,” she explained. “Everyone gets silly on the way home, it’s a good bonding time, and we have a lot of fun.”
As far as home meets go, she said that senior night was really special for her this season, but the meet against Iowa was also a highlight because it was their first home win against a Big Ten opponent this season.
Carolyn admits that she didn’t really know what to expect when she first arrived on campus in the fall of 2001, but her journey through college was better than she could have imagined. She says that the only thing that she wishes had happened differently is that she would have liked to have trained and competed in the all around. However, she isn’t sure that she would have been as successful on the vault and floor if she had trained on all four events. “I would like to think that I could have been successful in the all around, but I also did really well concentrating on just two events. I have no regrets, things turned out great,” she said.
Judging by the long list of awards and accomplishments that Carolyn has earned in her career with the Gophers, things couldn’t have turned out much better. She will end her competitive gymnastics career as one of the most decorated athletes in a program with a history of success. Carolyn has accomplished goals she set in the gym, in the classroom, and in life, and has become a shining example of what college athletics is all about.
Story by Sara Berhow, Athletic Communications contact for women's gymnastics
