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Head Coach Jill Hicks returns for her fourth season at the helm of the Cal State Fullerton women's gymnastics program charged with returning the Titans to the national spotlight. She was hired to the post on June 21, 2006, as the fourth head coach in the storied history of the program and has already made an immediate impact in the gym and in the classroom. Hicks, the 2007 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, helped lead a young Titans squad to an 8-7 overall record and a 4-1 mark against conference members in her first year. Fullerton won three of its first four meets and even posted an upset of No. 21 Arizona State before finishing fifth at the WAC Championships in Boise, Idaho. Last season, the Titans finished 6-14 overall and finished sixth at the WAC Championships, but she had three student-athletes (Alaina Baker in the all-around, Maddie Steinauer on vault, and Jessica Tait as an alternate on beam) selected to compete at NCAA Regionals - the first for Cal State Fullerton since 2005. A former assistant coach for 14 years at her alma mater of Oregon State, Hicks returned to her native Southern California six years ago and was a coach and choreographer at the National Gymnastics Training Center in Aliso Viejo before joining the Fullerton staff on Aug. 3, 2005. She served as an assistant to Head Coach Richard Gishi for the 2006 season, helping the Titans to a season-high score of 193.025 and a sixth-place finish at the conference championships. In her three seasons with the program, her student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom as 17 gymnasts have been named to the Academic All-WAC teams 32 times and 21 student-athletes have been named to the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Scholastic All-America honor roll a total of 29 times. In 2008, Cal State Fullerton finished sixth in the nation with a team GPA of 3.5867. Hicks, who is married to Titans' eighth-year wrestling coach Dan Hicks, was an elite gymnast with SCATS and a national team member, but a knee injury nipped her collegiate career in the bud. She served as an undergraduate "coach" for the Beavers for four years until her graduation in 1982 and then returned for a full-fledged stint from 1987 through 1997. In that time period, the Beavers made nine consecutive NCAA appearances and produced 33 All-Americans and five national champions. Her primary areas of focus were balance beam and floor exercise. The Hicks' have three children and live in Rancho Santa Margarita. |
There are no upcoming events. 04/14/2009 Women's Gymnastics Banquet Set04/09/2009 Seven Titans Named Academic All-WAC04/04/2009 Baker Ninth in All-Around at NCAA Regionals04/02/2009 Titans' Duo Prepped for NCAA Regionals03/24/2009 Baker, Steinauer Headed Back to Regionals03/21/2009 Titans Fifth at WAC Championships03/19/2009 Titans Head North for WAC Championships03/13/2009 Season-Best Score Helps Gymnasts to Third at ASU03/06/2009 Titans Finish Second in Boise Tri-Meet02/27/2009 Titans Place Third at Missouri's Cat Classic |
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