Gymnastics: WVU Finishes Second
March 23, 2003 01:59 AM | General
March 22, 2003
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| Jackson |
CENTENNIAL, COLO. – West Virginia University’s gymnastics team (13-7) scored a 194.4 to finish second in a tri-meet hosted by No. 18 Denver with No. 19 Arizona, Saturday evening, at Champion Gymnastics Club.
The Pioneers (15-7) won the meet with a 195.325 while the Wildcats (4-11) scored a 193.6. WVU was led by seniors TeShawne Jackson and Amanda Halovanic who scored a 39.25 and a 39.175, respectively, placing third and fourth in the all-around.
West Virginia started and finished the evening in second place in the meet. The Mountaineers opened with a 48.6 team score on beam and followed that up with a 48.7 floor exercise score to give WVU a 97.3 through two events.
On vault, arguably WVU’s best event on the season, the Mountaineers were forced to count two falls and recorded a poor 48.15 score. However, on the apparatus, Jackson recorded her WVU career-leading 47th 9.9 or better score and 23rd 9.9 or higher vault score with her 9.9
Halovanic also posted a 9.9, a career-high, on vault and as a result became just the sixth Mountaineer gymnast to score at least a 9.9 on every event at least once during a career. She joins fellow teammates Jackson and Dinorh Boyd and former Mountaineers Kristin Quackenbush, Kristen Macrie and Rebecca Slobig in that elite company.
West Virginia finished the meet with a 48.95 uneven bars score led by freshman Alyssa DeSantis’ 9.8 which tied a career-high.
On the evening, Halovanic and Jackson tied for third on vault while Halovanic tied for first on uneven bars (9.85).
The meet was originally scheduled to take place at Hamilton Arena on the campus of the University of Denver. But the meet was moved after severe roof leakage and the collapse of a 50 foot wall at the complex due to the abundance of snow on the facilities’ roof in lieu of the record-setting snow fall the Denver area received last week.
West Virginia is back in action at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League championships, Saturday, March 28, at Durham, N.H., at 6 p.m., at the Lundholm Gymnasium and Wittemore Center. The event will be hosted by EAGL rival New Hampshire.
