• Alina Hamm Feature Article
Junior (2002): Alina Hamm broke into the 2002 season winning the all-around title against Southeast Missouri State … tied her career beam mark scoring a 9.800 against SEMO before shattering the high scoring a 9.850 against Iowa State … scored a season high 9.800 on the bars four times, including three consecutive meets to round out the season … one of her 9.800 bar routines earned her a 12th-place finish at the North Central Regional … topped her season floor mark of 9.825 three times during 2002 … missed five meets recuperating from an injury.
Sophomore (2001): Advanced to the NCAA Region III competition … recorded five of the top-11 all-around scores in school history … set the sophomore record scoring a 39.225 all-around score against Nebraska … posted season-high bars score of 9.875 against SEMO and at the Missouri Cup … also hit 9.875 in the floor exercise at the Corvette Cup … averaged 9.692 on the vault to lead the team … received the team’s Most Improved Award.
Freshman (2000): Enjoyed a very strong freshman campaign … competed on vault and bars in every meet, and was up on the beam for the last month-and-a-half of the season … season-best of 9.725 on vault came in MU’s meet at Central Michigan … her best bars performance came at Texas Woman’s, where she scored 9.775 … her best beam score of 9.775 was good enough to tie for first-place against Oklahoma.
Club/High School: Trained at Missouri Valley Gymnastics ... was the state champion in the vault and balance beam in 1998, when she was also third on bars and floor and took second in the all-around ...third in the vault in Region 4 in 1998 and a two-time national team member ... USGF career-bests: vault (9.75), bars (9.3), beam (9.6), floor (9.65) all-around (36.85) ... club coaches — Debbie Ward and Dwan Parkyn ... says Mary Lou Retton was her biggest inspiration in gymnastics … member of the National Honor Society while attending Kickapoo High School (Mo.) … was also a member of Key Club.
Personal: Alina is the daughter of Randy and Shari Hamm … born Sept. 20, 1980 … is majoring in nutrition and fitness and hopes to become an athletic trainer… father, Randy, teaches music at Southwest Missouri State University and mother attends SWMS as an elementary education major ... name pronounced ah-LEE-na.
Coach Drass on Hamm
“Alina is a very talented, hard working athlete. Her strength is that she doesn’t have a weakness. We look to her as a senior leader this year through her experience and her four-event ability.”
Hamm Career Highs
All-Around: 39.225 v. Nebraska, 2001
Vault: 9.775, twice
Bars: 9.875 at Missouri Cup, 2001
Beam: 9.850 v. Ball State, 2002
Floor: 9.825, three times in 2002
