When junior Sarah Schmidt competes, she doesn’t hold anything back.

Last Saturday night against Penn State, Schmidt took two individual titles and led the Illinois gymnastics team to a victory. Monday afternoon Schmidt was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week by the conference office.

“Everything just really came together and this meet and this award helped me build my confidence a lot,” Schmidt said.

“I have never won any award for gymnastics before.”

Schmidt tied her career-highs in the uneven bars and floor with scores of 9.9. These marks were the highest of any Big Ten athlete in the two events last week. Schmidt also set her career-high with a 9.825 on vault.

“We were not doing too well on the bars and then Sarah nailed her routine and it was all uphill from there,” junior Nicole Cowart said. “That’s what Sarah does – leads by example and competes well when she’s under pressure.”

Schmidt is the third gymnast with this honor in Illinois history, following in the footsteps of sophomore Allison Buckley (March 19, 2008) and Cara Pomeroy (Feb. 8, 2006).

Head coach Bob Starkell hopes that Schmidt will continue her good work and stay consistent throughout the rest of the season.

“It is a big deal for us when an athlete gets this title, and Sarah definitely deserved it after last weekend,” Starkell said. “Sarah is definitely not the norm for a gymnast because she doesn’t have as much of a base as everyone else but she always keeps trying.”

While Schmidt has always had a love for gymnastics, she never really knew that she was going to compete at the collegiate level.

“I didn’t know if I had what it takes to compete in college but everyone told me to just go for it,” Schmidt said.

“I decided to send in my tapes and then I got a great response and realized how much I wanted to continue.”

Now completely focused on gymnastics, Schmidt is working on perfecting every one of her routines.

She said that she wants to “clean up” all of her routines with fewer falls and more consistency on the vault and beam.

“One of the things I really want is to be able to compete all-around this season,” Schmidt said.

“I have been doing the beam only on exhibition.”

Schmidt still has two seasons to leave a high standard for Illini gymnasts.

However, the junior is not just about titles, records and personal improvement.

Starkell calls her a team player that never gives up, something that is not lost on her teammates.

“Sarah is one of the hardest workers on the team and she will do something over 20 times until she gets it right, she teaches us to never give up,” Cowart said.

Schmidt is simply happy to do her part.

“One of the biggest differences from club is how now it’s all about the team, not you,” Schmidt said.

“It doesn’t matter how good you are, you have to be in it for the team.”