College Gymnastics Lists (4 of 4): Big 10 Gymnasts

1) Sunny Kato, Illinis. Junior (pict. top)

2) Sachi Sugiyama. Michigan. Junior (pict. center)

3) Jessie DeZiel. Nebraska. Junior (pict. bottom)

4) Alex DeLuca. Ohio St. Senior.

5) Mollie Derth. Iowa. Fresh.

6) Lisa Burt, Michigan State, Soph.

7) Nicole Medvitz. Penn St. Fresh.

8) Jamie Schleppenbach. Nebraska. Senior (yes, she may have the longest last name in the sport)

9) Cierra Tomson, Minnesota. Junior.

10) Sarah Fielder. Illinois. Senior

http://www.collegegymfans.com

High School of the Week- Red River HS (Grand Forks, N.Dakota)

This may very well mark the first time that we've had an entry about North Dakota, a state we've never been to!

But, Red River High School in Grand Forks, N.Dak., is our High School of the Week.

Kim Slovtsue is the principal of RRHS, which has about 1,330 students. The school was established in 1967. And, the school's nickname The Rough Riders was in honor of Teddy Roosevelt (pictured here).

Unlike most schools in my two states of Virginia and North Carolina, RRHS offers hockey as one of its school sports for both boys and girls alike. The school won the state championship in boys' hockey last year.

"The Rider's Digest" is the school newspaper.

Emily Wong, a freshman gymnast for The University of Nebraska, is among the school's recent alumni.

SIDEBAR: Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, NC, a suburb of Greensboro and High Point, which was a previous High School of the Week, won their home game over Western Guilford HS by a 25-17 score on Friday night. The Flying Tigers is on the road against Page High School from Greensboro.

SIDEBAR TWO: My good friend and fellow blogger Chris Knight has reported that an Elvis Presley impersonator went into a Sheetz gas station in Eden, NC, on Aug. 27. We have idea if he sang "Viva Las Vegas" for customers or not!

NC State Women's Gymnastics Team Upsets Nebraska.

I was at the NCAA gymnastics meet held at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, NC, on the North Carolina State University campus where the home-team Wolfpack upset tenth ranked Nebraska. The University of North Carolina was also at the meet, and came in third though Christine Nguyen (pictured) won the all-around competition.

According to the Wolfpacks' gymnastics team web site, there were 3,721 fans on-hand to witness the most impressive win in the program's history (It should be noted that the Wolfpack gymnast pictured here who we believe to be Ashley Shepard was on last year's team).

The Wolfpacks' coach Mark Stevenson said he was very pleased with his team's performance.

"I'm really excited about how the meet turned out," Stevenson said. "We beat Nebraska for the first time ever and they are a top ten team."

The Wolfpack scored a seson best 9.875 as freshman Rachel Fincham posted that same score on the bars event. The 'Pack were also helped out with strong performances from Jess Panza, Brooke Barr and Becca Teich. Barr and Teich finished second and third respectively in the all-around competition behind Nguyen.

As for the visiting Cornhuskers (we tried to find an image of a gymnast, but alas we had to settle for one of the team's mascots!), coach Dan Kendig told Brendan Carl of "The Daily Nebraskan" that he gave his team a pep talk going into the fourth rotation when they realized they were down to the Wolfpack by a considerable margin.

But, in the end, it simply wasn't enough to overcome.

"I wish we had a better showing, but we will live to see a better day," Kendig told "The Daily Nebraskan."

For the 'Huskers, senior Kylie Stone gave a good performance and she told the newspaper that her team stayed tough in spite of a poor balance beam performance.

As for the Tarheels, the loss featured many positives as Nguyen won her fourth all-around title which prompted her to being named EAGL (east coast collegiate gymnastics conference) Gymnast of the Week as she score an impressive 39.375 in Raleigh.

'Heels coach Derek Galvin told the UNC women's gymnastic's team's web site that he was delighted with ther performances from his team which included a 9.800 on the balance beam from stand-out gymnast Kara Wright.

"Going into this week our focus was on bringing our beam routines up to the level of the other events," Galvin said. "We did that and we surpassed them."

The Wolfpack stay in Raleigh to face the always tough Pitt Panthers on Saturday night. Fans who bring in two books can get in for free as part of a literacy program that the team is sponsoring.