Coming off their best season in school history, the Red gymnasts are getting ready for another record-setting year. Boasting four All-Americans, six individual record holders, two Ivy champions and a three-time ECAC champion on his squad, head coach Paul Beckwith is looking to make his 11th season the most memorable yet — by winning both the ECAC and USAG titles and an NCAA regional bid.
This year looks promising for the Red if the close of 2004 is any indication, when the squad broke every single individual event, team event and all-around record. All-American sophomores Stephanie Ohler and Randi Bisbano, junior Shellen Goltz, and senior Meghan Miller join senior co-captains Larissa Calka and Andrea Mavro on a team that set an unprecedented number of records in 2004. Junior Cathy Schnell, who was voted the ECAC Rookie of the Year during her freshman season will also look to help the Red to make noise nationally.
Calka and Mavro will help the Red raise the volume. Calka, who is second all-time at Cornell in the all-around, should make a big impact on bars, beam, and floor — all events in which she has scored over 9.8. Mavro has started all four events for the Red and hopes to continue to make her mark on the vault and bars.
Miller could be a potential all-around record-setter this season. She will be out to win an unprecedented fourth ECAC uneven bars title, a feat never before accomplished on any individual event in the history of the league.
Another gymnast returning to the bars lineup is Schnell, who holds a Cornell individual record (9.9) and claimed the 2003 Ivy Classic title.
Bisbano, the 2004 ECAC Rookie the Year, was the first Cornell gymnast to earn All-America honors on more than one event (bars and beam) and will be looking to defend her Ivy Classic title on the floor, where her score of 9.925 tied the highest score in meet history. She will be a regular starter in the all-around, where she holds the school record at 39.1. Ohler, Cornell’s other sophomore All-American on bars, could help lead the Red to new records in that event and should contribute to the vaulting lineup as well.
A two-time All-American on beam, Goltz will also contribute significantly on the uneven bars this season, while the 2004 ECAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, senior Allison Betof, rounds out the list of returnees.
The Red will be put to the test when it hosts the 2005 USA Collegiate Gymnastics National Championships.
Archived article by Cassie Resnick
Sun Staff Writer