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2008 Season (Junior): A 2009 tri-captain, along with Kelly Fee and Carly Janiga ... a starter on bars, beam and floor before suffering a knee injury Feb. 29 at Arizona State and missing five meets ... returned at NCAA team prelims and scored a 9.8 on beam ... one night later, produced a pressure-packed 9.85 on beam at the Super Six to help Stanford to third place ... season bests: bars (9.775), beam (9.85) and floor (9.875) ... Pac-10 All-Academic team.
2007 Season (Sophomore): Competed individually in all four rotations and scored a season-best of 39.025 in the all-around ... Other season bests: vault (9.8), bars (9.8), beam (9.85) and floor (9.775).
2006 Season (Freshman): Scored a 38.425 in the all-around in her collegiate debut, in a victory over UCLA ... season bests: vault (9.8), bars (9.8), beam (9.825) and floor (9.8) ... won Stanford's Most Improved Gymnast award.
Club/High School: Team captain of Canada's 2004 Olympic gymnastics team in Athens ... second all-around at the 2002 and 2003 Canadian national championships ... Canadian runner-up in bars (2002), vault (2004) and floor (2004) ... third all-around in 2004 Olympic trials ... competed in Olympic prelims in vault (17th), floor (21st) and all-around (40th) ... member of 10th place team ... two-time all-around winner at Elite Canada (2002, 2004) ... 2000 Canadian junior all-around champion ... a 2005 graduate of Gloucester High School in Ottawa, Ontario ... trained at the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre in Ottawa.
Personal: Daughter of Ted and Gini Purnell ... father played for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League ... mother played professional golf and squash ... sister, Ashley, was a sprinter at Stanford ... majoring in psychology.
Getting to know Heather Purnell
My earliest gymnastics memory is ...doing a back walkover in a show and getting stuck in the handstand for five seconds
Growing up in gymnastics, I always pretended ...my thumbs were rocket launch buttons and I would press them to help me run fast on vault
When I was in younger, I was always in trouble for ...climbing on top of the fridge, and running down the stairs
If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?To become invisible, so I could observe the world without my influence
I'd be the perfect person to ...become a professional napper
The most unforgettable venue I ever competed in was ...Pan American Games in Dominican Republic. There was no air conditioning and they had holes in the walls instead of windows, so there were a bunch of moths lying all over the floor and it was super hot
Something people would be surprised to know about me is ...I'm pretty quiet
The best advice my parents ever gave me was ...it will be better in the morning
The best advice my coach ever gave me was ...do the same thing you do every day (in a competition)
Since coming to Stanford, I have learned ...that time is precious
The best thing about Stanford women's gymnastics is ...we really all do love each other
I'm most thankful for ...my family