It was a tough decision, and elite high school gymnast Julie Sauchuk of Peabody chose Michigan State as a walk-on candidate.
The now 20-year-old Sauchuk transferred to the University of New Hampshire, another Division 1 power, in the fall. She was ineligible this season, as a transfer, so Sauchuk works out daily with the team, helps video tape meets for online and TV purposes, and waits until she can become an active contestant next year.
Better late than ever, she probably feels.
As the state all-around champion at Pope John High in Everett, where her step-father, Ken Peavey, is the athletic director, and her mother, Julie, is the gymnastics coach, Sauchuk couldn’t be blamed for setting her sights high, like a Michigan State. I fell in love with the campus.
“I was truly impressed with the campus and the school,” Sauchuk said. “Those parts were all fine, but the extent of my participation was four exhibitions.”
She said her whole life has been gymnastics and an inactive role in the varsity schedule was not what she was expecting.
Thus, she decided to transfer and UNH was her first priority.
“I e-mailed Gail Goodspeed (the UNH coach of 29 years standing) and said I’d like a chance to compete on your team and she came and watched me work out over the summer at Gym and More in Woburn. She said she’d definitely would like to have me on her team. I contacted UNH admissions, but couldn’t register for fall semester. That was a drawback.
“But Gail said I could come in and they could prepare me for next year and I’ll be able to compete for them then,” Sauchuk said. ‘UNH is very interested in improving my skills. I’ll be working on my development. They don’t want me staying where I am (performance-wise).”
She enrolled with the same gymnastics arrangement at Michigan State, as a walk-on.
Sauchuk, who has powerhouse potential in floor exercises and vaulting, sounded very comfortable in her new surroundings in Durham, N.H.
“It was a tough decision to leave. I met so many people,” she reflected. “But school without gymnastics is something I can’t do. I wanted to compete more. I felt being held back. I wanted to show what I can do. I wanted to express myself somewhere else.”
She also recalled she suffering a torn Achilles heel at nationals in Oklahoma City in 2006.
“Gail was there and came right over to me, recommending a surgeon,and I took her up on the suggestion. And I wasn’t even going to UNH.”
She obviously feels better about her second college decision.
