April 5, 2006
Normal, Ill. -
Two Illinois State gymnasts, Cheryl Berezan and Meaghan Koshman, will make their NCAA Regional debut in Fayettville, Ark. this Saturday at 6 p.m. Berezan will be an all-around competitor and Koshman will represent Illinois State on the vault.
This will be the first NCAA regional competition for both the `Birds, as Koshman is in her first year of collegiate competition and Berezan failed to qualify last season. Koshman is ranked 16th on vault in the South Central Region, while Berezan ranks 23rd in the all-around.
Head coach, Bob Conkling is looking forward to the trip down to the regional competition. He began working with these two gymnasts when his first season began in August 2005, and has two seasons left with Berezan and three remaining with Koshman.
"Cheryl is looking really good," said Conkling. "She banged her foot on the beam during practice, but that won't hurt her at all for the meet. Overall, she has cleaned up her routines making her more solid and confident, so I think she'll perform really well on Saturday.
"Koshman can beat her 9.850 vault with no problem," continued Conkling. "We have worked on some landing drills so that she sticks her landing. If she had a good vault she will score similar or higher than her 9.850."
The two gymnasts will begin their practice session at 2 p.m., with the regional competition kicking off at 6 p.m. Berezan, who will rotate with the Arkansas team, will begin her meet rotation on the floor, move on to vault, then bars and finally beam. Koshman will be in the fifth rotation to vault.
