|
TWU
Home > Student
Life > Athletics > Gymnastics > Archives > 2003
News > July 15, 2002
TWU
GYMNASTICS ACCEPTED INTO
MIDWEST INDEPENDENT CONFERENCE
DENTON, TX--The Texas Woman's University gymnastics
team, who has been competing as an independent since the program
began as a varsity sport in 1979, has been accepted as a member
of the Midwest Independent Conference for the 2002-03 academic
year. Members of the six-team gymnastics conference are the
University of Illinois-Chicago, Illinois State University,
Southeast Missouri State University, Winona State University,
Centenary College and TWU.
“I have been pushing for our gymnastics team to become
a member of a conference for a couple of years now. The Midwest
Independent Conference felt like a good fit because of the
location and competitive levels of the schools,” head
coach Frank Kudlac said. “It has been hard to schedule
meets during the final couple of weeks of the regular season
to prepare for NCAA Regionals and the USAG Nationals because
most schools are in conference championships. Now TWU will
be aiming for a conference, as well as a national championship.”
The MIC began in 1991 with six members, Northern Illinois
University, Southeast Missouri, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois
State, Winona State and Valparaiso, and was created to give
these schools, who competed as independent institutions in
gymnastics, a chance to have an end-of-the-year championship
as a tune-up before NCAA regionals. The conference dropped
to four members when Northern Illinois went to the Mid-American
Conference and Valpo dropped its women's gymnastics program.
Centenary joined the league last year and will host the conference
championship on March 29, 2003.
“We are very excited to have Texas Woman's University
join the MIC because it gives us a strong six-team conference
with lots of great collegiate gymnasts. Since 1991, this has
been a competitive conference for squads that serve as an independent
in gymnastics,” Peter Jansson, head coach at Illinois-Chicago
said. “With these six teams, it gives our student-athletes
a chance to compete in a conference championship with awards
and recognition that they so richly deserve.”
There are no scheduling requirements and the championship
host is determined on a rotational basis with 2005 being the
first year that TWU could host the conference finale. The championship
will be a one-day event held two weekends prior to NCAA Regional
meets. The MIC presents all-conference academic awards to all
team members who achieve a 3.0 GPA or better in the fall semester.
The top three finishers on each event at the conference championship
make the all-conference team. The Pioneers are a combined 44-47
all-time versus their five opponents in the MIC.
--
www.twuathletics.com --
|
