UA gymnastics program has rich history
Editor's note: Today marks the first Perfect 10, a weekly series where the Star will rank the top-10 performers for each UA sport. Reporter Zack Rosenblatt has consulted the people most familiar with each team, crunched statistics and looked through the Star's archives. Next week: Men's and women's tennis.
Arizona’s gymnastics program, perhaps as much as any of the UA’s 17 athletic programs, has had a long history of prime individual talent.
Just walk into McKale Center — the names in the rafters aren’t only from the basketball team.
The gymnastics ring of honor has 19 names. Men’s basketball, by comparison, has 22.
So, as you can imagine, narrowing this list down to 10 wasn’t easy. And it was particularly difficult deciding who should be No. 1.
The discussion starts with the late Heidi Hornbeek.
“She won almost every award you can win in the NCAA,” said longtime UA assistant coach John Court.
It’s true. Most notably, she won three Pac-10 titles, and one NCAA title.
Randi Liljenquist certainly has a case — four-time all conference selection, a Pac-10 champion, the 2002 NCAA Regional Gymnast of the Year and holds Arizona’s all-time best beam and all-around scores.
But, in the end, we valued above all else consistency over the course of a four-year career, which is why Monica Bisordi, who competed at Arizona from 2002-05, is our pick for the No. 1 gymnast in UA history.
“She was a team-first athlete and one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met,” said Court, who’s been with the UA since 1998. “She wore the colors with pride, and was one of the best in college gymnastics.”
