Women’s Gymnastics: Ohio State Signs Four to National Letters of Intent – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Fagan signs four Level 10 gymnasts from around the nation
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s gymnastics program has signed four high school seniors to National Letters of Intent to compete for the Buckeyes, head coach Carey Fagan announced. Casey Williamson, Nicole Krauter, Krissi Woodward and Taylor Jones will be freshmen in the 2008-09 season.
Williamson is from Mansfield, Ohio (St. Peter’s H.S.) and trained at Gym Xtreme in Delaware, Ohio. Jones is a native of Edmond, Okla. (Edmond Memorial H.S.) and is a product of Dynamo Gymnastics. The Indianapolis, Ind., area is home to both Krauter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel H.S.) and Woodward (Lapel, Ind./Lapel H.S.), who were teammates at DeVeau’s Gymnastics.
Under Fagan, who was named the 2007 Big Ten Coach of the Year, the four signees will join an Ohio State program that was ranked No. 19 in the nation at the end of the 2006-07 season and has high expectations for the upcoming 2007-08 campaign.
Jones won the 2007 Region 3 all-around title and earned the 2007 Shannon Miller Award, given annually to the gymnast of the year in Oklahoma.
“Taylor comes to us as the Region 3 All-Around Champion and Oklahoma’s Gymnast of the Year recipient,” Fagan said. “She is especially strong on the power events, vault and floor, but also is very competitive on bars. Taylor knew she wanted to be a Buckeye from the moment she stepped foot on the campus. She will bring great leadership to the team, even as a freshman.”
Krauter placed 11th in the all-around at 2007 regionals and tied for eighth in the all-around at the 2006 regionals. She qualified for the 2007 Level 10 nationals and placed 15th in the all-around, eighth on floor and tied for fifth on beam.
“Nicole was a pleasant surprise for us during the recruiting process,” Fagan said. “She is really a gymnast on the rise and has improved significantly on all four events during her junior season. She has a definite flair about her that makes her exciting to watch. She will especially have an impact on our bar and beam squads next season.”
Williamson qualified for the 2007 Junior Olympic Level 10 National Team and tied for 19th in the all-around. She placed fifth in the all-around at regionals after qualifying as the only gymnast from Ohio in her age group. In 2006, Williamson competed at the Region 5 championships and placed 14th in the all-around.
“Casey will be the second athlete to join the team from Ohio,” Fagan said. “She has been a remarkably consistent performer during her years as a Level 10 athlete. Casey’s strengths will be seen on all four events and we anticipate she will see action as an all-arounder for all four years as a Buckeye.”
Woodward is a four-time Junior Olympic national qualifier and was the 2007 state vault champion. She finished second in the all-around at the state championships, was a regional qualifier and a national alternate qualifier.
“Krissi brings a great competitive experience, particularly on beam,” Fagan said. “She competes with remarkable confidence on that event and in college gymnastics beam tends to be the make or break event for a lot of teams. We are thrilled to have Krissi come and be a leader for us on that event.”
### OhioStateBuckeyes.com ###
Contact: Tim Stried, stried.3@osu.edu
