Solid Footing U-Hi Grad Is Ncaa All-America Gymnast

Every time someone has told Shelly Bartlett she might not be able to do something, she doggedly worked to prove them wrong.

Four years ago, when the Spokane Valley high school and club gymnastics star was preparing to head off to the University of Nebraska, her father warned her that she likely would no longer be able to compete all-around in college, that she would probably have to drop an event or two.

“He said I’d probably be taking a different role but that it would be so much easier,” Bartlett said. “I was like, ‘Gosh, that’s weird. I’d like to compete in all four.”’

For four straight years, Bartlett did just that, achieving a level of durability unheard of in the sport. The third-generation Valley resident competed in every event of every meet during four years as a varsity gymnast at Nebraska. Along the way she set school records for all-around, uneven bars and balance beam score, and was only .025 points away from records in vault and floor exercise.

“I talked to a bunch of coaches at nationals and they think it was just amazing,” said head coach Dan Kendig. “It may never, never be duplicated.”

This year, she was an NCAA All-American, was Nebraska’s Female Athlete of the Year and recipient of the Jim Hartung Award as Nebraska’s outstanding gymnast.

“It all was just overwhelming,” said Bartlett of the accolades.

Ironically, one of two events in which she earned All-America at the NCAA championships in Florida was bars, an event which assistant coach Rob Drass said she would likely not participate in this year.

“It’s a good thing (Rob) said that. It must have motivated me,” said Bartlett. “If you told me last year I’d make finals of bars, my coaches would have laughed.”

Motivation was one thing not lacking for Bartlett, whose collegiate athletic career ended with her also being a finalist for the country’s top female collegiate gymnast. The accolades are tribute to Bartlett’s tenacity.

“In four years she never came in tired, hurt, this or that,” said Kendig, who became head coach after she signed. “There was no whining. Have you gone into work chipper every day? She has.”

Her nearly perfect four-year numbers include a 39.575 all-around score, 9.95 (out of a possible 10.0) on bars, 9.925s on beam, vault and floor exercise. Academically she carries a 3.85 grade-point average in social sciences and history.

She has one more year of college before graduation and next year will be a volunteer assistant for the Cornhusker program. She is also entertaining possibilities of competing at the World University Games.

Bartlett’s love for Nebraska was instantaneous upon her recruiting visit in 1993. She turned down one scholarship offer and placed another on hold while hoping that Nebraska would call. Her dad said she would have enrolled there anyway.

“I’m someone who finds something really neat about a place,” she said. “I like the humidity and the people here are just amazing. I never really got homesick.”

It didn’t take long under new coach Kendig for the love to be reciprocated.

Bartlett arrived early her freshman year in Lincoln. Through hard work and conditioning she found her way immediatly in the starting lineup.

She trained summers at the Woodward Gymnastics Camp in Pennsylvania, considered one of the premier gymnastics facilities in the nation. There, she learned the new routines that helped her keep ahead of her rivals.

“I probably worked harder than I worked in my life when I trained in the summer,” Bartlett said. “I learned so many new skills.”

Other than the aches and pains normally associated with her sport, Bartlett luckily never suffered a serious injury in her four years there.

During that time, Nebraska won 80 percent of its meets, four straight league championships and three straight NCAA tournament appearances.

This year during regionals, Cornhusker teammate Amie Dillman suffered two dislocated knees during vault, an injury so traumatic that the team finished third in regionals, and barely qualified for nationals.

Once there and led by Bartlett, the Cornhuskers made the coveted team finals, the “Super Six,” knocking longtime national power and regional champion Utah out of contention.

Bartlett made All-America on vault as well as bars.

“Nationally it was the best I’ve done,” said Bartlett, allowing she could have done even better. “I didn’t hit my beam and floor as well as I could have. The mistakes were silly or ones that normally didn’t happen.”

Bartlett learned her gymnastics at the club level beginning in second grade. When she signed with Nebraska in 1993, her Northwest Gymnastics Academy coach, Mike Armstrong, said she was the first from this area to receive a college scholarship in the sport.

The education was free, but it cost her parents plenty to travel to watch her compete. Bob, a biology teacher at University High, from which Shelly graduated in 1993, joked that he’ll need supplemental income to pay off the travel bills.

It was money well spent, he said. “It’s fun to see your children be a success and see them doing what they want to do.”

Bartlett added that her career had an impact on more than just the family. A contingent of Spokane people, including Armstrong and U-Hi coaches and gymnasts, traveled to regionals in Salt Lake City.

Fifteen years of gymnastics haven’t dampened Bartlett’s love or enthusiasm for the sport, which she hopes to coach collegiately.

“I’m so thankful Nebraska chose to scholarship me,” she said. “Someone must have been looking out for me.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: REPLAY ON TV The April 19 NCAA gymnastics championship meet in which Shelly Bartlett earned All-America honors is scheduled to be televised at 11 a.m. Saturday on KREM-TV, Channel 2.