Gymnastics: WVU Downed by Auburn in First Meet
January 13, 2006 10:22 PM | General
January 13, 2006
 |
||
| Morris |
AUBURN, Ala. – The West Virginia University gymnastics team suffered a 195.3-188.125 loss against No. 11 Auburn in the Mountaineers’ season opener in front of a crowd of 2,223 at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum in Auburn, Ala.
Freshman Erica Watson led the Mountaineers (0-1) in two events (beam, floor) and compiled a fourth-place score of 38.35 in the all-around. Classmate Mehgan Morris was the lone Mountaineer to place in the meet with a tying for second place on the uneven bars.
Auburn (5-1), whose team score of 195.3 was only matched by two other teams in the country entering this weekend’s action, won all four events and had three all-arounders place in the top three. Sophomore Julie Dwyer, the reigning SEC freshman of the year, won the all-around with a 39.375 and also captured three events (vault, beam, floor).
“We competed poorly,” said WVU head coach Linda Burdette. “We have the ability but we had too many mistakes. We also had a lot of young people competing.”
Morris highlighted the Mountaineers’ first-rotation score of 48.125 on the uneven bars. The Belle, W.Va., native swung a team-high 9.8 in her college debut, which tied for second in the meet. Morris’ bars score is also a conference high, setting the early season precedent in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League.
Junior Janàe Cox collected a 9.775 while Watson also drew high numbers with a 9.625 in her first collegiate attempt.
Heading into this weekend’s competition, only 14 teams scored better on bars compared to WVU’s sum on Friday. Auburn also looked sharp on bars with a second-rotation sum of 48.825, paced by event-champion A.J. Mills’ 9.825 and Aimee Gohen’s 9.8.
In the second rotation, the Mountaineers compiled a 47.650 vault score, which the Tigers eclipsed in the first rotation with a 48.725 including Dwyer’s first-place score of 9.825.
Sophomore Jaime Gold landed WVU’s best vault with a 9.675, good for a fifth-place tie for the meet, while junior Tynisha Dennis carded a 9.6. Cox sitting down on her dismount was decisive as her 9.2 was not used as one of the Mountaineers’ top five.
West Virginia faced nearly a two-point deficit (97.55 to 95.775) heading into the third rotation. That was when the Mountaineers absorbed the first of two troubling rotation as they could only produce 46.3 team score on the floor exercise, while the Tigers enjoyed an impressive 49.025 on the balance beam in the third rotation.
Watson’s sixth-place score of 9.55 was tops for WVU gymnasts on the floor, while falls on the other five Mountaineer routines resulting in no score higher than a 9.25. Auburn captured the floor exercise with a 48.725, backed by Dwyer’s meet-best 9.875.
West Virginia compiled a 46.05 in the fourth rotation, as Watson led the Mountaineers in with a 9.7. Four Auburn gymnasts placed higher on beam during the third rotation, led by Dwyer’s first-place score of 9.9 and followed by a pair of 9.85s by Mills and Lindsey Puckett.
West Virginia returns to action Saturday, January 21, when it travels to Penn State in a quad meet that also included Michigan and Cornell.
