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Freshman Corinne Belkoff makes her mark early in ASU gymnastics

Since stepping into the all-around on Feb. 8, Belkoff has broken all of her prior career highs.

Belkoff

Freshman Corinne Belkoff takes her turn on the beam at the match-up between the Sun Devils gymnastics team and the California Golden Bears on Monday, February 15, 2016 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.


Freshman Corinne Belkoff began training in the gym at the age of five. Now, she's an important member of the Gym Devils.

“You watch gymnastics on the TV and you’re like ‘Oh I want to be like them,’ or you go to college meets and you want to do that. I think that started off everything, and then you just kind of set those goals for yourself,” Belkoff said.

A member of Arizona Dynamics gymnastics club in Tucson, Belkoff said she chose ASU because it was a good distance from home to allow her to be independent, but still allowed her to be able to see family.

Belkoff has two younger sisters, ages 14 and 18. She said they've competed in gymnastics with her throughout her career and have played a major part in her support system during her journey.

Despite all the excitement from seeing gymnasts on TV and in college meets, and competing with her sisters, her journey didn't happen without doubt in her plans to further her career.

“There was a period in middle school where I was kind of iffy about it, but I feel like everyone has that, and you kind of get through it and keep going,” she said. “It was hard to find the motivation, but you have to keep your mind on your bigger goals, like doing college gymnastics. Once you remind yourself of that it’s like 'Okay, I can do this.'"

The young Gym Devil is majoring in economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business and is a member of Barrett, the Honors College.

Belkoff said managing school and gymnastics has been the toughest adjustment to the collegiate level.

“The hardest things are balancing school and gym because there’s just such a big commitment,” she said. “Also, overcoming fears.”

Belkoff said the biggest fear she had to overcome was bars, but she has gotten a handle on it in recent meets as a Gym Devil.

On Feb. 8 at Stanford, Belkoff competed in her first all-around for ASU. She posted career-high scores in all four events, scoring 9.500 in bars.

Head coach René Lyst said she was impressed by Belkoff’s performance.

“Corinne has improved on every single thing since she’s been here,” Lyst said. “She has improved her skill level, her form and technique and now, as the season has gone on, she has improved her consistency and her ability to compete under pressure.”

The experience was exciting, Belkoff said.

“It just kind of felt like everything came together, all the hard work from preseason and so far this season,” she said. “It felt really great.”

Belkoff’s teammate, friend and roommate, freshman Heather Udowitch, was happy to get to share the experience with her.

“It was really exciting to see her post all those scores, especially because I’m her roommate so I get to see all the work and time that she puts into it, especially in the gym,” Udowitch said.

The two are focused on being successful in the gym as well as outside of the gym in school, Udowitch said. They help each other on homework and have developed a close friendship.

“We both kind of have the same sense of style, and we like a lot of the same things," Udowitch said. "It’s kind of nice to have someone who understands the gym life, I can always talk to her about anything."

Since the meet against Stanford, Lyst has said that Belkoff will be a crucial part of all four events. On Monday night, she competed in the all-around against Cal.

Belkoff placed second, improving her season-highs from the Stanford meet on bars and beam, and matching her high on floor. 

Belkoff said it was a great feeling to come home and have another outstanding meet in front of the ASU fans, and she is looking forward to next week's meet against Arizona to show her friends from home what she's been working on.

"I'm super excited, since I'm from Tucson I've always been kind of with of U of A, but I'm so proud to be part of ASU," Belkoff said.

Lyst said Belkoff is beautiful to watch and she is excited to see her continue to improve.

“She’s got a great work ethic, she’s extremely coachable,” Lyst said. “I don’t doubt that she’ll be fantastic.”



Reach the reporter at haley.stesiak@asu.edu or follow @haley_stesiak on Twitter.

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