College scholarships generally go to those exceptional athletes with the talent and ability to greatly improve a college team. But what about those walk-on athletes without scholarship money? Are they less talented or born with less ability than their counterparts with scholarships? Not in the case of Ohio State gymnast Liz Meaney.

The Buckeye senior came to OSU as a walk-on in 2001, but four years later she is captain and unquestioned leader of OSU’s No. 23 ranked women’s gymnastics team. Not to mention the fact that Meaney has since earned an athletic scholarship.

“She is the ideal gymnast,” said coach Carey Fagan. “She has improved every year on every event and earned her scholarship.”

Meaney got started in gymnastics when she was eight-years-old at the Chalk Box in her hometown of Ashtabula, Oh. Meaney said her aunt started her in ballet, but she pleaded with her aunt and mother to let her switch to the gymnastics program located in the same building.

“It just looked a lot better (than ballet),” Meaney said. “I hated ballet.”

Meaney was eventually allowed to join gymnastics and she said she immediately took a liking to the sport. She started competing at the Chalk Box right away and gymnastics became a huge part of her life.

When she reached high school, Meaney had a decision to make. She was becoming more and more involved with gymnastics as she got older and Meaney had to decide if gymnastics was how she really wanted to spend her time. In the end, she decided not to compete her freshman year of high school and just live like a normal teenager.

“I was a little burned out,” Meaney said. “But I decided (after that year off) that gymnastics was what I wanted to do.”

Meaney came back and joined the Lake Erie Gymnastics Academy in Mentor, Oh. The new gym was more accessible and had better equipment, she said.

With her mind set on gymnastics Meaney enjoyed an illustrious club career at the academy. She earned state laurels on the balance beam in 2000, was runner-up in 2000 in the all-around competition at the elite Level 10 skill level, and was the 2001 Region 5 Level 10 balance beam champion. Yet despite the accolades, Meaney was not a highly-sought college recruit and eventually decided on OSU.

“I did not know much about OSU other than the gymnastics program, but I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” Meaney said.

Meaney walked on to the team and after two successful years in the program, including being named to the All-Big Ten second team as a sophomore, she earned a scholarship from former coach Larry Cox.

“I just worked really hard and I guess (Cox) noticed,” Meaney said.

Once on scholarship Meaney did not rest on her laurels but continued to excel her junior year. She was named to the All-Big Ten first team and was one of two Buckeyes to qualify for the NCAA Regional meet.

As Meaning began her senior season the team was in the midst of changes. Cox left after 25 seasons at the helm, replaced by assistant Carey Fagan. Along with Fagan the team brought in nine new gymnasts, including eight freshman. Named a captain, Meaney felt the pressure of being in charge of such an overhauled team.

“We never had captains before so I did not know what role to take with the team,” Meaney said. “There was a lot of pressure with the new coach and so many freshman.”

So far this season she has the team ranked No. 23 in the country. She has won the balance beam competition in four out of five meets including a 9.950 that tied a career high on Jan. 29.

“Liz is very consistent,” Fagan said. “She leads by example and performs well under pressure. (We named her captain) because she is the person we wanted the other (gymnasts) to look up to.”

“She keeps us in line in the gym,” said freshman teammate Karley Walek. “She helps (the underclassmen) on our routines by always offering her two-cents.”

For the rest of the season Meaney said her primary goal is to help the team get to the NCAA Championships. Such a team orientated goal is typical of Meaney’s unselfishness on the team, Fagan said.

The superstitious Meaney has a few rituals to keep her focused on competition days. Fagan said two of Meaney’s more unique ceremonies include eating strawberries and wearing the same leotard. Meaney declined to comment further on her superstitions.

Meaney and the rest of her teammates will be in action at 2 p.m. on Sunday at St. John Arena when they host No. 3 Louisiana State.