Gymnastics

Missouri Inks Two Gymnasts for the 2004 Season.

Nov. 19, 2002

Columbia, Mo.-The Mizzou women's gymnastics program announces the addition of two top caliber athletes in the signing of Amanda Pezzullo and Miranda Boeckman.

Pezzullo comes to Missouri from the Illinois Gymnastics Institute where she has trained under Todd Gardiner and Kurt Aichele. Competing at Level 10 for the past three years, Pezzullo has accrued a solid resume of success. This year, she won the regional vault title scoring a 9.725 after taking the Illinois state title with a 9.475. In addition, Pezzullo finished fifth in the all-around at the state meet and 10th overall at the Regional competition. Last year, she qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals where she finished 11th on beam. She also appeared in the IGI Chicago Style Meet taking the beam title and finishing sixth in the all-around. Pezzullo is a senior at Wheaton-Warrensville High School in Wheaton, Ill. She is the daughter of John and Linda Pezzullo.

Boeckman joins the Mizzou program seasoned with both national and international experience. She has qualified to the Regional Level 9 and Level 10 competitions for the past seven consecutive years and has advanced to the national meet six of those years. Her single absence on the national scene was due to a leg injury that sidelined her from competition.

Adding to her list of accolades, Boeckman was the Oklahoma state and Regional beam champion in 2000. In the championship round, she also finished fifth on bars and third in the all-around competition Last year, she once again took the state and regional beam titles and finished fifth in the Regional all-around competition. Boeckman advanced to the 2001 National meet where she finished sixth overall on beam.

Boeckman participated in the 2002 Hall of Fame Invitational where she took triple titles winning the bar, vault and all-around championships. Taking her act to the international arena, she helped her club team, Bart Conner Gymnastics, finish 15th at the Massilia Cup Open Team meet in Marseille, France. She is the daughter of Kathy and Fred Boeckman.