Lawrenceville's Young Shines as Team's Athlete of the Week

Sophomore Mary Kate Young of Lawrenceville, a Collins Hill graduate was honored as gymnastic "Athlete of the Week" by her team at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Young is one of 16 girls on the squad.

"I saw Whitewater at a competition as a junior in high school and they were having fun," Young said. "Most of the schools around there (Georgia) are SEC schools or big time schools and this was the more realistic choice. I could go to a D-2 school and only compete my junior or senior year or come here and compete all four years." Another option was to go to Texas Women's University. "I decided this was the best choice for me."

A friend from her early teens was also at a camp with her and she decided to go to Whitewater. Laura Corrigan, who is now Young's roommate also attends the school. "It had a big affect on me coming up here," Young said. "I thought if she could be crazy enough to come to the tundra up here then I could too. The weather is definitely a change. Where you have a month of winter in Georgia we have four months of winter up here. In fact it is snowing right now. It is a big adjustment. I have to get a whole new wardrobe but I do like it."

Young's dad, Steve, travels for a living so he has accumulated many frequent flyer miles. "That has helped. My parents come to all the home meets," She said. "It's really neat." Young's son, Michael is playing football at Emory & Henry in Virginia so he travels to see both. "Football is in the fall and my gymnastic is in the winter and spring," Young explained. "But Michael decided to try tennis so I don't know how that will work out now." Young says that she keeps up with all her friends through Facebook. "I check it regularly," she said. After she practices from 3:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., she does homework where she is a business major, studies and enjoys a little time on the computer.

Young had a trio of second-place finishes against UW-Oshkosh Saturday, March 5. On the balance beam, she placed second with a score of 9.650, tying for tenth all-time in school record books. In the uneven bars, she scored 9.575, good for second. And in the floor exercise, her score of 9.650 earned her second. Her contributions to the team helped UW-W win 189.375-184.90; the team score of 189.375 is the second highest total in school history.

Young found out about the school when she was on a trip as a junior in high school to Cancun, Mexico and met coach Jennifer Regan. She sent in her recruiting DVD and, as they say, the rest is history. "Mary Kate brings a lot to our program," said Regan. "She helps motivate our team, has a lot of fun and determination."

Young, who's brother played baseball at Collins Hill, comes from a very athletic family. "Gymnastics is a totally different breed of sports," Regan said. "You have to continue to train. She loves the sport, puts in a lot of hard workand dedication and that's what she brings to the table."

Young decided to go to Wisconsin-Whitewater after finding out that two of the gymnasts on the squad were from Tennessee so she was comfortable with some teammates from the South already on the squad. "It's a great program. Whitewater has done well in all sports  and when the recruits come and see what we have to offer, the program sells itself," Regan said.