Nov. 22, 1999

COLUMBIA, MO., ___ -- The first two signees for new University of Missouri gymnastics coach Rob Drass will bolster his squad for both this season and next.

Drass has announced the signing of Jacqueline Coatsworth (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Alisha Robinson (Oak Grove, Mo.) to national letters-of-intent.

Coatsworth will graduate next month from Durango High School and will enter MU in January, making her eligible to compete immediately for Drass' first Tigers team. She'll contribute mightily to improving Mizzou's depth, especially on the balance beam and uneven parallel bars where her lifetime bests are 9.75 on beam and 9.725 on bars. In the all-around, she has scored 37.95.

"I am very happy that we have been able to sign someone of Jacqueline's caliber, especially at mid-year," Drass said. "She's a great performer on beam and bars and has All-America potential. She'll provide some depth for us right away."

Since 1995, Coatsworth has competed on the club level for the Las Vegas Flyers, training under Jiani Wu, the 1984 Olympic bronze medalist on balance beam, and former world champion Yuejiu Li. Under their tutelage, she was a four-time qualifer to the Level 10 Junior Nationals where she placed 8th in the all-around and sixth on bars in 1998, and fourth on bars and sixth on beam in 1996. Most recently, she was the Region 1 bars and beam champion in 1999.

She has also trained at the Desert Academy and was a silver medalist on balance beam at the 1994 Level 10 Junior Nationals.

Robinson competes for the Great American Gymnastics Express in Kansas City, where her coach is Al Fong. Robinson scored 37.425 to capture first place in the all-around of the Level 10 Region IV Championships in Minneapolis last spring. At the Junior Olympic National Championships, she placed 18th in the all-around and sixth in the vault.

In September, Robinson placed 14th at the World Power Tumbling Championships in South Africa. To get there, she stood out in qualifying competition, placing second in Anaheim, Calif., fifth in Knoxville, Tenn., and fourth in Sacramento, Calif.

"Alisha is one of the better gymnasts in the country," Drass said, "and I'm really looking forward to working with her. She'll have an immediate impact for us next year in the all-around. She's an outstanding prospect with the potential to compete for an NCAA championship on vault and floor during her college career."