Second team All-American is the final and most prestigious award Allison Buckley has added to her name this season. The Big Ten Freshman of the Year competed at the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics Nationals in Athens, Ga., on Thursday and took sixth place in her first event of the meet, the balance beam, with a 9.825.

Teammate Nicole Cowart also advanced to the National meet and had another solid competition, but she was just tenths shy of receiving All-American status.

“We couldn’t have picked two better student-athletes to represent the University of Illinois here in Georgia,” said head coach Bob Starkell in a press release. “Allison and Nicole are two of our strongest leaders, and they got a good perspective of how our team stacks up against some of the best in the country.”

Though the gymnasts were initially disappointed about traveling to Nationals as individuals, they both had the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the all-around competition.

Competing in different sessions, Buckley got things rolling for the Illini by rotating with Alabama. After her sixth-place beam performance, she had a bye, and then flipped her way through an unusual floor exercise. Scoring a 9.775, her music stopped several times during the routine. The freshman from Schaumburg, Ill., then moved to the vault and scored a 9.725 because of a stumble on her landing.

After a final bye, Buckley finished on the uneven bars but fell on the dismount, earning a 9.200 that gave her a combined all-around score of 38.525.

Although she finished lower than anticipated, she is looking forward to a team competition next year.

“Overall, being here at Nationals has been an incredible experience,” Buckley said in a press release. “We’ve had a chance to see that we can compete at this level, and we’ll definitely take it back to the rest of the team so we can all make it here together next year.”

The home team, the University of Georgia, won the National Championship for the fourth time in a row.

Meanwhile, Cowart competed alongside Denver and posted a 38.925 in the all-around competition, finishing 15th in the second session. Her Olympic-style rotation order suited her well as she posted a 9.600 on her first event, the vault. Cowart’s best performance was on the uneven bars with a 9.800. The Greenwood, Ind., native then finished the evening on the balance beam and floor exercise, scoring 9.750 and a 9.775, respectively.

Just like Buckley, Cowart is already preparing for next year’s Nationals competition.

“I think for Allison and I, this experience will motivate us for next year because we don’t want to be here again on our own, we want all of our teammates with us,” Cowart said in a press release. “I think we saw that we can compete with some of the teams here and are capable of earning a team bid. We were close this year, but now we’ve seen what it takes and are hungry to make it happen next year.”