Casey Jo Magee

Casey Jo Magee (b. July 17, 1988) is a gymnast for the Lady Razorbacks at the University of Arkansas. During her career, Casey Jo has become one of the leaders of the Arkansas gymnastics team, which is more commonly known as the Gymbacks.

Pre-college achievements

Casey Jo trained at the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Springfield, Oregon. She competed in the Junior Olympic National Championships four times. In both 2005 and 2006, Casey Jo became the JO National champion on balance beam.

Prior to this, she was a two-time all-around champion at the Region II Championships. These titles came in 2003 and 2004. Casey Jo also placed first in all four individual events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise) in 2003.

College Career

2007

Casey Jo began to compete for Arkansas in the 2007 season. On January 13, she finished first on the balance beam with a score of 9.775 in a meet at Penn State University. This was Casey Jo's first of 6 individual event titles on the season. She also won the all-around with a score of 39.275 in a quad meet (a four-team event) at Barnhill Arena with West Virginia, Pittsburgh and New Hampshire on March 9. Her beam score of 9.950 in the meet on March 16 at Arizona State set a school record on the event.

Casey Jo concluded the year with an individual qualification for the National Championships as an all-arounder. She was only the second Arkansas gymnast (Dana McQuillan was the first in 2005) to accomplish this feat. Casey Jo scored a 38.725 in the all-around at the Nationals held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

2008

As a sophomore, Casey Jo was a solid performer for the Gymbacks. She won 3 all-around titles with scores of 39.200 on January 25 (vs. Penn State), 39.475 on February 15 (vs. Kentucky) and 39.350 on March 21 (vs. Michigan State.) In addition, she placed first on uneven bars twice and on balance beam five times for a total of 10 individual titles.

The Gymbacks qualified for the National Championships and finished 10th in the nation. Casey Jo achieved second team All-America status on vault and uneven bars. This made her and teammate Michelle Stout (first team on vault) the first All-American gymnasts ever at the University of Arkansas.

Casey Jo was presented with the Gymbacks' Most Outstanding Gymnast Award by the team's coaching staff.

2009

Casey Jo's junior year got off to a good start. She won the all-around in Arkansas's first five meets of the season. On January 9, her winning score of 39.300 was highlighted by first place scores of 9.850 on uneven bars, 9.875 on balance beam and 9.850 on floor exercise in a Gymbacks' win over Ohio State. She followed that up with another all-around win, scoring a 39.425 in her home state during a tri-meet with California and Oregon State at Corvallis. Casey Jo then accumulated a school record score of 39.535 (including a 9.900 for the balance beam title) to top the field in an Arkansas win at Barnhill Arena over top-ranked Florida on January 23, scored 39.425 for the top all-around spot in her team's win at Oklahoma three days later, and then totaled 39.450 (finished off with a 9.925 on floor to clinch a win over Alabama) for another all-around title on January 30.

Casey Jo won her sixth all-around title on February 27 in a meet at LSU. She scored 39.400 while winning the uneven bars (9.875) and balance beam (9.900) event titles. Two weeks later, she won her seventh all-around with a 39.525, highlighted by event-winning scores on vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.900) in a quad meet at Texas Women's University. Twice during the season, Casey Jo was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

At SEC Championships on March 21, Casey Jo earned a share of the balance beam title with a score of 9.900 on the event. On April 4, she earned event-winning scores of 9.900 on both beam and floor at the South Central Regionals at Barnhill Arena. As a team, the Gymbacks finished in first place to advance to the National Championships, from which they earned their first ever Super Six berth.