If the third time is supposed to be the charm, what is it when the first two have already been charms?

Good question in regard to the Third Annual Southwest Airlines/Huskie National Mixed Pairs Gymnastics Invitational. The competition was intense the first year, better the next, and Northern Illinois University coaches Bobbie Cesarek and Chuck Ehrlich virtually guarantee this year’s meet should be even better. Nine couples from six top gymnastics programs are set to compete in Saturday’s (Nov. 18) 7:30 p.m. meet at Evans Field House.

Dawn Mulholland is back to help Houston Baptist University try to reclaim the Mixed Pairs title which she won along with NCAA All-America Alfonso Rodriguez. Mike Williams is partnered with Mulholland hoping for an encore to last year’s showing which included six records for combined scores.

Therein lies the meet’s unique feature. The couples compete as a team with only the top four duos advancing to the third round of the competition. Ultimately, only the top two teams qualify for the final championship round. The strategic element comes into play as both gymnasts must declare their chosen order of events in advance. Teams must decide to either save the best for last or start with those events in order to avoid elimination.

Ready to challlenge the Mulholland-Williams combination will be the University of California-Berkeley’s Kristin Smyth-Chris Brown, California State University-Fullerton’s Margot Gumerlock-Bill Barham, Arizona State University’s Colette Anderson-Licurgo Diaz-Sandi, University of Oklahoma’s Monica Fields-Ricky Armstrong, University of Illinois at Chicago’s Kristi Lewis-Steve Krause, plus Northern Illinois twosomes of Lori Lebo (Arnold, MD/Fort Meate Senior) and Erik Solky (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro), Vicki Thimgan (Lincoln, NE/Southeast) and Genaro Severino (Porto Allegre, Brazil/Ipa), and Julie Wimmers (Bellbrook, OH/Alter) and Waldemar Kolasa (Lodz, Poland/Liceum Ogolnoksztakeace).