Former Beaver Gymnast Elizabeth Jillson Continues Her Career
At least one observer of the second session at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships was torn between two teams.
Elizabeth Jillson was with Arkansas as the director of gymnastics operations. Jillson is also a former Oregon State gymnast.
With both teams not only in the event but competing in the night session, Jillson had a lot of gymnasts to root for.
“Everybody teases me because I love Oregon State and I love Arkansas, so I’m torn,” Jillson said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Make sure you cheer for the right team.’ I’m cheering for both inside.”
Jillson was on the OSU team that made the nationals in 2002 as a junior. Like this year, the Beavers were eliminated on the first day of competition.
Jillson, however, made the individual finals on bars and wound up as a first-team all-American.
“Competing for Oregon State in the individual finals felt like it was the most memorable moment ever,” she said. “But again, my team wasn’t there. I was by myself. I came to Oregon State for a team. It was great to do that as an individual, but I would have traded that any day for a Super Six. That’s something I wanted so bad with my team and we were good but it just didn’t happen that way.”
The Beavers fell just short of qualifying the next year and Jillson graduated. She moved back to California and was planning to get her teaching credential there.
Then OSU coach Tanya Chaplin called. She had talked to Arkansas coach Rene Cook and the Razorbacks needed a graduate assistant.
“I jumped all over it,” Jillson said. “I drove down to L.A. where the NCAA Championships were (that year). So this time two years ago, I drove down to meet Mark and Rene Cook in person and tell them I was really interested in the job.”
The Cooks were impressed enough to fly Jillson to Arkansas so she could take a look. She liked it and they liked her, so Jillson is now studying for a master’s degree in elementary education while she works with the gymnastics program.
Jillson had never been to the area before. She said Fayetteville reminds her of Corvallis and she got lost a few times when she first moved there because she’s used to having the ocean as a reference point.
“You’re in the Ozarks and it’s all green throughout the summer and they have awesome thunderstorms, which is kind of cool,” Jillson said. “Everybody’s really sweet, really nice. You’re in the South, so you definitely get Southern hospitality and I never experienced that, living on the West Coast.”
Her duties with the program are varied. She runs the home meets, including the recent NCAA Regional, and helps out with office work, fund-raising and recruiting. She also coordinates the summer gymnastics camps and works with a youth club. She’s even done some commentating.
Jillson’s background as a gymnast was a boost in running the meets.
“Because I was a gymnast, I know how a meet goes,” she said. “I know the format of everything, I know how many volunteers you need, just because of my experience. But there are little details that you don’t know as an athlete because you don’t see behind the scenes. This job has given me so much respect for people in administration roles. They do so much behind the scenes and they do a lot of work and that’s what makes an event happen.”
Jillson said she’s not sure where she’s going to land when she leaves Arkansas.
“I’m really up in the air. I don’t know where my career’s going to go,” she said. “I love doing the administration work. I love coaching, too. I don’t know where my heart is right now. I’m hoping something else will come up and kind of guide me to go where I need to go.”
For now, she’s enjoying her time back in Corvallis.
She has been able to spend time with old teammates and friends and took some of the Razorbacks on a tour of the campus when they arrived.
“It’s the old stomping grounds, so it’s always fun to visit again,” she said.
