Gymnastics Adds Three For 2005 Season
11/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Gymnastics Adds Three For 2005 Season
11/19/2003
PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh gymnastics head coach Debbie Yohman announced the signing of three student-athletes to National Letters of Intent for the 2005 season. New to the Panthers? ranks are Samantha DeBone, Nicole Drane, and Kaitlin Harrison.
DeBone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) is a Level 10 gymnast for the sixth consecutive year and a four-time Junior Olympic national qualifier. While competing in Junior Olympics in 2000, DeBone was the national balance beam champion and later earned the 2002 Junior Olympic all-around title in Pennsylvania. She is coached by Bill Altman and Jan Kolman and is the first scholarship recipient the Westmoreland Gymnastics Club Highlanders have had.
?We are thrilled to have Samantha join the team,? Yohman said. ?She is a solid all-arounder and doesn?t have a weakness in any of the events. Her bar routine includes some great skills. Samantha and her family are real nice people. Everyone we recruited knew Sam and spoke so highly of her. It was an honor for us to get her commitment and I know she can?t wait to get to Pittsburgh.?
Drane (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) finished third in the all-around at the 2003 New Jersey high school championships. She is also a three-time New Jersey uneven bars champion, and won the state vault title in 2002. In Junior Olympics competition, Drane has won the state uneven bars championship four times and the regional bars title on two occasions. She is a three-time Junior Olympic national qualifier. Drane also competes for the Will-Moor Gymnastics Club, coached by Kim Bonus and Craig Terreault.
?We think Nicole was born to be a Panther because she has family from this area and Pittsburgh is like home to her,? Yohman commented. ?She is another solid gymnast in all four events and very competitive. Nicole is a go-getter with a ton of skills in her repertoire. She will be a program-maker for us.?
Harrison (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial) is a former National Elite gymnast. In 1999 she was a member of the National Elite training squad and participated in the 2000 Elite Gym-Fest. Harrison was on the National TOPS Team from 1996-1998 and was a New Hampshire state all-around champion at Levels 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10, and a 2002 regional all-around champion. She is arguably one of the top recruits out of New England, according to Yohman, and is coached by Tony Retrosi at the Atlantic GTC.
?Kaitlin is one of the top catches in the Northeast,? Yohman said. ?She was in the Elite program and working at a high level. Her bars are superb and she is an excellent student as well and another strong all-arounder with no weaknesses. She will help this program get stronger immediately.?
?These three quality all-arounders make this class the strongest, deepest and best class we have signed to date,? Yohman continued. ?Our new facility and plans played a big role in attracting them to the University of Pittsburgh. We are confident they will play a huge role in moving our program forward.?
The Panthers start their 2004 season on January 10 in against the Ohio State Buckeyes and East Atlantic Gymnastics League rival Maryland Terrapins.