GymDivas.Us

Last updated: July 10, 2009

Katherine Elaine Heenan was born on November 26, 1985 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Katie, as she is known by, is the daught of John and Lisa. She began gymnastics as a toddler in 1990. Katie trained at Capitl Gymnastics in Burke Virginia with Tatia Perskaia and Victor Vetrov for the majority of her career. In the fall of 2004, Katie became a Georgia Gymdog!

In 1998, Katie competed as a level ten. At the Level 10 JO National Championships, she won vault and bars! Later on, Katie made junior internationl elite. At the US Classic, she finished in the top twenty. A few weeks later, she competed at the US National Championships. She finished in the top ten all-around! This qualified her for the junior national team. Unfortunately, Katie had to sit out most of the 1999 season with an injury. She came back in 2000 for her final year as a junior international elite. At the US Classic, she finished fifth on bars. At Nationals, Katie finished ninth all-around and fourth on bars! Katie made her second junior national team.

In 2001, she was ready for the senior divison. Because of a back injury, she was unsure how she would compete at the US Classic. Despite this, Katie palced fourth all-around and won bars! She continued to place high at the US National Championships. Katie placed sixth all-around and became the national Uneven Bars Champion! After the competition, she was named to the world team. Before Worlds, Katie competed at the Pan American Championships. She finished second on bars and seventh all-around. At Worlds, Katie helped the USA team finish third, the country's first world medal since 1996! As an individual, she won the bronze on bars.

After a successful 2001 season, Katie struggled in 2002 with injuries. She attemped to compete bars and beam at the US National Championships. In 2003, Katie proved she was back. Happy to be competing again, Katie stated her season off with several invitationals. She won the all-around title at the Maryland Classic, Elite Qualifier and Parkettes Invitational. She also did well at the National Podium Meet. Katie was then picked for the Pacific Challenge. She won bars! At Nationals, Katie suprised many when she took seventh all-around. She also won the bars title. Her next competition was supposed to be at the training center, but she fractuerd her left ankle in July. In the fall, Katie competed at the DTB Cup in Germany.

2004 was her final year as an elite gymnast. In early spring, she won the American Classic all-around and bars title. She was picked to go to Ukraine for the Stella Zakharova Cup. At this competition, she picked up a bronce medal on beam. She then went to the Pacific Alliance Championships in Hawaii. Katie helped the USA team win. She also won the uneven bars title. At her final US Nationals, she made her fifth us national team! Katie was an alternate for the Olympic Trials. After another gymnast became injured, she competed on the first day. A sore back forced her to scratch.

She made an immediate impact in her freshman year at Georgia. At her first college meet, the Super Six Challenge, she won floor and finished third all-around. Katie continued to win. At a meet against Auburn, she won vault and bars. She won the all-around and beam titles against Kentucky. Katie picked up another vault title against Arkansas. She won her second floor title at Florida. At LSU, she won her second bars title. Against Utah, Katie won both vault and floor. In a meet against NC State, she won bars. Katie finished the regular season by winning the all-around, bars, beam and floor against Michigan. At the SEC Championships, Katie won the all-around title and beam title! She helped Georgia win the NCCA Championship! Katie became a first-team All-American on vault, bars and in the all-around. She was second team on beam.

In 2006, Katie had her sophomore year at Georgia. She won the all-around title at the Cancun Invite. Against Arkansas, she won vault. Katie won floor against Florida and LSU. She placed first on vault and bars against Oklahoma. Georgia defended their title again in 2006! As a junior, she competed all-around in the Super Six finals to help Georgia win its thidr consecutive NCAA title. She earned First-Team All-American honors on bars and second-team in the all-around. She was named the 2007 SEC Gymnast of the Year. At the SEC Championships, she won the all-around crown. She won beam at Regionals. She was named SEC Gymnast of the Week. She was an NACGC Academic All-American and part of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

As a senior, she won the Honda Award for Gymnastics. She earned First-Team All-American honors in the all-around and on vault, bars and beam. She placed second on bars at the NCAA Championships. She was named to the All-SEC First-Team. She won vault at SEC Championships. At Regionals, she won bars and beam. She scored a perfect 10 on vault against Arkansas. She married a former Georgia baseball player.