March 7, 2002
Chicago, Ill. - In the unofficial parent's handbook, chapter one tells them to teach their children to surround themselves with good people.
Attention all parents, please direct your children to UIC freshman Neil Faustino.
To label this 18-year old a gymnast would be unfair to Faustino, as he cites so many other activities on his resume.
During his prep years at Lincoln High in Stockton, California, Faustino sprinkled his schedule by participating in the school's marching, jazz and concert bands, while becoming a conference diving champion.
After all of that during the school day, Faustino would make the 45-minute trek north to Sacramento to work on his gymnastics, and throughout all of this he kept his grades at an excellent clip and somehow managed to become a good kid.
Oh, and he also was a member of Lincoln's California Scholastic Federation and Science, Key and Asian clubs.
Are you tired yet?
"I guess you could say I tried everything," said Faustino, a computer science major. "I always thought that the more you can test yourself doing, the better you'll be in balancing your life better so I just took on as much as I could."
The good kid part may have something to do with his parents, Noli and Binggay, whom Faustino credits for everything in his life.
"My mother and father have always been totally supportive of everything I've done," Faustino said. "I tell my father everything and my mom makes sure I'm being taken care of."
Faustino also has another shoulder to lean on, in his older sister Nina. His 22 year-old sibling is a graduate of UCLA, and resides in Los Angeles working as an electrical engineer for a global positioning system.
"My older sister is awesome," Faustino said. "As soon as she moved away to college our relationship got a lot better. I even tell her more than I tell my parents."
So with his personal beacons setting the proper examples, Faustino made the decision to enroll at UIC after his recruiting trip here, despite the fact he could have attended a number of other institutions, which also have successful gymnastics programs.
"When I came on my trip here and met the guys and by traveling with them, I have noticed that we are a tight-knit team," Faustino said. "I have set up my own little family here in Chicago and I'm glad I came here because of the people."
Most are glad he came here as well, as Faustino has displayed abilities and skills that haven't been seen around the gymnastics room in some time.
Already this season, just eight meets into his collegiate career, Faustino has made his mark nationally. Currently, Faustino is ranked third in the nation on vault with an average score of 9.375. He won his first four collegiate vault competitions, including a win at the Windy City Invitational hosted by UIC.
"The Windy City was a great meet for me to watch because I got to see the best in the nation," said Faustino. "When I got second in the all-around at Minnesota that showed me that I can compete with the best."
At that Minnesota meet, Faustino was runner-up to a two-time NCAA champion, and finished with a season-best all-around score of 51.750.
Outside of competition, where he has obviously excelled, Faustino has gathered confidence outside of the gym as well. In speaking with Faustino, you can sense the maturity and personality that put him past his years. It was difficult to get him to talk of his own exploits, because he was too busy speaking about fellow teammates or his friends outside of the team.
The one thing he will tell you about, though, are his goals.
"I want to compete in the all-around competition at the NCAA meet to see how I stack up against the best in the nation," Faustino said. "I want to see how good I can do on vault as well."
But it didn't take long for him to get back on the team track.
"I just want to help the team to see how well we can do at the ECAC's (Eastern College Athletic Championships)," he added.
With the addition of Faustino and other fearless freshmen like Keith Kerrigan, Andrew Christopoulos, Ronny Tazioli and Tommy Kosanda, coupled with the rest of the talented Flames, Faustino is hoping to jump-start the UIC gymnastics program, currently No. 15 in the nation, into the NCAA elite.
In this case, it seems the good guy may finish first.
