University of Minnesota Athletics
2012 Gymnastics Preview: Uneven Bars
12/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Dec. 28, 2011
In this four-part series, GopherSports.com will be previewing the 2012 women's gymnastics season event-by-event. Accompanying each preview will be a video which features head coach Meg Stephenson analyzing one Gopher gymnast's routine along with explaining what judges look for in that specific event. The second preview will focus on the uneven bars.
After graduating three gymnasts on the uneven bars, the University of Minnesota women's gymnastics team looks to keep the high-flying event a team strength even though head coach Meg Stephenson returns a small group of gymnasts.
"Our bars team is small but mighty," said head coach Meg Stephenson. "We don't have a lot of depth, but we have some amazing routines returning. We also had some girls make really nice upgrades over the summer, one in particular is Janell."
Junior Janell Campbell is the Gophers' top returner based on her average bars score from 2011. Campbell competed in every meet last season and won one title, which came at the Cal State Fullerton meet. The Wisconsin natives' top score of 9.850 came at the Big Ten Championships, where she tied for third place.
"We also have strong routines returning with Kayla and Lucy. Those two did a great job for us last year and were very consistent."
Kayla Slechta participated on bars at every meet during her freshman campaign while Lucy Ennis, who is a senior, competed in all but the first four meets. The senior from Roseville, Minn. produced the second highest individual score for a Gopher on the bars at 9.875 while also claiming three meet titles.
Another returner that will be looked at for some good scores is sophomore Dusti Russell, who only competed on bars for the first two meets of 2011.
"Dusti, who missed the last part of the season last year, will also help us out. She is very good on bars. She is very clean, finishes her skills right at the apex and is just fun to watch. We expect for her to do a really good job for us this season."
As in most events, the Gophers hope to get some contribution from their three talented freshmen in Jenny Covers, Kylie Schermann and Cierra Tomson.
"Cierra is very strong on bars, and she does a huge release that is very tough, which should excite the crowd. As far as Jenny and Kylie, each of them has improved so much throughout the fall, and we hope that they will be ready to contribute in bars throughout the season."
Stephenson also commented on the highly anticipated return of junior Justine Cherwink, who suffered a lower leg injury this past fall.
"Justine probably had the best summer out of anyone on the team. She is healing rapidly from her leg injury, and we are highly anticipating her return in the mid to late season.
Last season, the uneven bars were the team's second best event based on average scores while it was the Golden Gophers' top event in four of the 13 meets.
Check back later this week to catch a preview on beam.
Players Mentioned
