Gymnastics: WVU Places 2nd in Home Meet
February 03, 2007 09:57 PM | General
February 3, 2007
MEET RESULTS
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| Mehgan Morris |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 25 West Virginia University gymnastics team placed second with a score of 194.625 in a home meet with George Washington, No. 18 Kent State, No. 23 Penn State and Wilson College on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
The 194.625 points by West Virginia was the team’s second highest score of the season. Penn State took first with a composite score of 195.625. Kent State followed WVU in third with 192.275 points, while George Washington claimed fourth with a score of 191.375 and Wilson College ended fifth at 147.700.
After starting off the meet on a bye in the first rotation, the Mountaineers (9-3, 5-0 EAGL) got their night off to a great start with a 49.225 on vault. Jaime Gold’s career-high 9.9 took first individually and senior Tynisha Dennis also posted a solid score of 9.875 to place second in the event. The Mountaineers would have two other gymnasts, Janáe Cox and Heather Izer, score 9.85’s to booster the team’s result.
In the third rotation, WVU put together one of its better bar routines of the season with a total of 48.475. Mehgan Morris (9.825) and Cox (9.8) led the way on that event to place second and third, respectively, in the individual awards.
On the balance beam, freshman Shelly Purkat scored a career-high 9.850 to lead WVU to a score of 47.750 in the event. Purkat’s total ranked second at the meet behind Penn State’s 9.925 from Stephanie Sullivan. Mountaineer gymnast Kara Weaver also turned in an outstanding performance to garner a score of 9.7 on the beam.
West Virginia finished up the night with a clean sweep on the floor exercise as Dennis, Cox and Morris placed in the top three spots, individually. Dennis tied her season and career-high for the second time this year with a 9.925, while Cox posted her 29th career score of at least 9.9 or more in an event, tying her for third all-time in WVU history.
The Mountaineers had all five gymnasts above 9.7 on the floor to post a total of 49.175 and secure second place. That score also is almost a full point higher than the team’s season average of 48.283.
Penn State moves to 9-3 and Kent State drops to 5-2 while George Washington falls to 4-6.
WVU returns to competition on Feb. 10, in a quad meet at EAGL rival New Hampshire.
