Excess energy put Cwick on road to scholarship

It wasn't out of interest in the sport that Tanya Cwick began participating in gymnastics. It was simply because she couldn't sit still at home.

The restless 2-year-old drove her mother crazy, and it was because of this that Cwick discovered the talent that has led her to a successful career topped off recently by an athletic scholarship to Auburn University.

"My mom finally decided to put me in something so I wouldn't be bouncing off the walls around the house," Cwick said.

The 17-year-old senior from Central High School became a gymnast 15 years ago at Riverside Gymnastics in Cape Girardeau. After practicing locally for a few years, Cwick began traveling to GymQuarters in St. Charles, Mo., where she trains six days a week. She leaves school every day at 1:25 p.m. and returns home about 9:45. The practices count for her school physical education credit.

Cwick earned a spot on the Region 4 National Team in May 2002 after placing third in her age division during the regional competition in Minneapolis. The team consisted of the seven gymnasts who scored the highest out of the region, which included seven states.

"I have about 12 meets from January to May," Cwick said. "Then in March it's the state competition, after that you can qualify for regionals, and from there you can qualify for nationals."

Besides Minneapolis and Missouri, Cwick has competed in California, Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Tennessee and Louisiana. Within the next year she plans to travel to competitions in South Carolina and Cancun, Mexico.

Cwick said her best event is the balance beam, but she also participates in the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise at every meet. Four judges rate individual performances for each of the four events on a 10-point scale, and the winner is decided after the average of the scores are totaled.

Cwick, whose highest competition average is 37.625, is helped by coaches Scott and Debbie Cusimano and Greg Stephan. She practices with 69 other girls, all of whom perform at different levels of competition.

She endured a setback in the eighth grade when a knee injury required surgery.

"I didn't get too far behind," Cwick said, "but it took me awhile to get back in the groove of things and get stronger."

It wasn't long before she was back in the gym practicing daily, and now, four years later, Cwick is preparing for the next step -- collegiate gymnastics.

"I can't wait," she said. "I've only met the girls once, but they seem really nice. It should be fun."

Cwick not only plans to help out the team, but also to stay academically focused between her year-round practices.

"I'd like to have a 4.0 GPA throughout all four years," said Cwick, who plans to study medicine, "and help out the gymnastics team to try and win a national competition."

Auburn will host the NCAA national meet in 2005, her first year on the squad.

After 15 years in gymnastics, Cwick knows that without all the time and effort she's put into the sport, it would not have been possible for her to compete on the college level.

"If I wouldn't have made the move to go up to St. Louis to practice every day," Cwick said, "I wouldn't have gotten the scholarship."