Oct. 26, 2004

By: Patrick Clark -

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Tuesday, October 26, 2004) The 2005 Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team awaits the beginning of the season with much excitement and optimism. Which is understandable if you ask Head Coach Tom Farden about his current group of athletes and the potential they have and are capable of.

Since the beginning of practice his team has been training and practicing with their eyes on January 15, the first dual meet against Illinois State in Normal, Illinois.

With a core group of eight returnees and seven highly touted freshman should improve on a season that was considered one of the best since 1991. They finished 15-7 including 5-2 in dual meets. They went 5-0 at home and broke numerous team and individual records just missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Regionals.

Seniors Katie Bloom (Snellvile, Ga./ Gwinnett Gymnastics Center) and Alexis Traylor (St. Charles, Mo./ All American) along with junior Tara Boldt (Lakeville, Minn./ T.A.G.S) are among the top returnees. Bloom returns as Southeast's top vaulter. Her score 9.875 against Missouri ranks sixth all-time and almost helped propel Southeast to the upset over highly touted and ranked Mizzou. In the same meet Boldt recorded the fifth highest score on the beam with a 9.900.

Boldt and Traylor earned all-conference and births to the NCAA Regionals.

Southeast also welcomes a new coach in Andree' N. Pickens, 14-time All-American and former NCAA Champion, as assistant coach for the 2005 season. She helped Coach Farden recruit one of the most highly touted recruiting classes in the past ten years at Southeast.

Jennifer Kaye is among the newcomers for Southeast

The schedule for the gymnastics team is one of their more challenging in the last couple of years. They face Illinois State, University of Chicago, Bowling Green and Kent State. Southeast looks to avenge last years close loss to Missouri with a March trip to Columbia, Mo. to take on the Tigers.

Coach Farden is excited about the upcoming season and if last season is any indication to the future, it looks as though the 2005 gymnastics team has the makings of one of the best teams in Southeast history.