Kristen Linton Feature in The Daily

By Athletic Communications on February 24, 2011 9:41 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Mention the name Kristen Linton around the Washington gymnastics team and prepare to hear more raves than at a Pixar media screening.

Photo by Ted Copeland.

Head coach Joanne Bowers on her senior gymnast Kristen Linton: "When you look at her on floor, her dance quality and her performance quality -- when she performs, everyone in the entire arena, just stops, and their mouths hang open."

Photo by Ted Copeland.

Senior Kristen Linton has embraced the team aspect of collegiate gymnastics.

Her fellow captain, senior Sam Walior, describes Linton as an "absolutely gorgeous" gymnast with gymnastics that are "beautiful to watch." Her head coach, Joanne Bowers, agrees.

"She is so beautiful, artistically, to watch," Bowers said. "When you look at her on floor, her dance quality and her performance quality -- when she performs, everyone in the entire place, no matter what arena, just stops, and their mouths hang open."

However, Linton wasn't always the gymnast who stops crowds whenever she puts on a leotard.

When Linton graduated from Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood, Wash., she was finished with gymnastics. After two injury-plagued seasons, her junior and senior years of high school, Linton was set to enroll at Western Washington University -- a school without a gymnastics program.

Read the full story here: http://dailyuw.com/2011/2/24/walk-stardom/.