WVU Takes Third at NCAA Regional
April 14, 2007 10:36 PM | General
April 14, 2007
MEET RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
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| Janáe Cox |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 5 seeded West Virginia University gymnastics team placed third with 194.775 points at the 2007 NCAA Southeast Regional before a crowd of 3,074 at the WVU Coliseum. The crowd was the third largest in Coliseum history for a gymnastics meet.
No. 2 seed UCLA won the event with 195.975 points and No. 1 seed LSU claimed second with 195.950 points to receive the two bids to advance to NCAA Nationals in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 26-28. Auburn placed fourth (193.950), NC State (193.950) took fifth and North Carolina (193.875) came in sixth.
"We went in there with a goal to finish in the top three and we ended up scoring what was our qualifying score, which is great," coach Linda Burdette said. "We had a tough panel of judges and to score that high means we really had a solid meet."
WVU senior Janáe Cox placed seventh in the all-around but qualified for nationals because five of the top seven competitors were already on advancing teams. The EAGL Gymnast of the Year finished with 39.100 points in the all-around and became the first WVU gymnast to cross the 2,000 point plateau in school history. It is the third time in her career she has qualified for nationals as an individual.
"With everything that has happened in the recent weeks to Janáe, the odds of her qualifying were pretty slim," Burdette says. "I think that nationals will be a great way for her to finish her career."
The other all-around individual qualifier was Auburn’s Julie Dwyer, who placed third with 39.275 points.
The Mountaineers opened the meet on floor and scored 48.900 points to jump to third behind top seeds LSU and UCLA in the opening rotation. The Mountaineers got started with Shelly Purkat’s 9.7 and score built all the way to the anchor, Cox, who finished the floor exercise with a team-high 9.9 for WVU. Cox’s score tied for first with UCLA’s Tasha Schwikert for the floor title.
Senior Tynisha Dennis, a first team all-EAGL selection on floor, was fifth in the lineup just ahead of Cox, and put together a solid routine to earn a 9.85 score and take fourth in the meet. Mehgan Morris also added a 9.75 from the fourth spot.
At third place, West Virginia headed to its strongest event this season, vault. The Mountaineers continued that consistency by tying a season-high with 49.225 points on the event, previously obtained in a home meet on Feb. 3. Dennis started WVU off with a 9.825 before WVU picked a pair of 9.8s from Heather Izer and Erica Watson, respectively. The Mountaineers would go on to finish the event very strong. Cox produced another 9.9 and first team all-EAGL vaulter Jaime Gold stuck her landing to give WVU back-to-back 9.9s in the event. Cox and Gold would tie for third in the event.
With two rotations in the books, the upset-minded Mountaineers held a 98.125-97.325 advantage over top-seeded LSU and were ranked first in the meet’s field.
West Virginia sat out the third rotation with a bye before moving to the uneven bars. On bars, WVU scored a solid 48.475 to stay in contention. Cox scored a 9.725 and Watson garnered a 9.775 to highlight WVU. Morris, the anchor in the lineup, scored a team-high 9.8. It was the 12th time this season that the all-EAGL bars performer scored at least a 9.8 or better. Morris tied for seventh.
On WVU’s fourth and final event, beam, West Virginia scored 48.175 points. Junior Kara Weaver earned a 9.75 from the judges on her routine to score the team’s high. Senior beam specialist Amie Bouchier also added a 9.7 for the Mountaineers, who finished with 194.775 points.
With all four events completed, WVU was holding on to second and had to sit and watch the sixth and final rotation. The UCLA Bruins would catch WVU and LSU by scoring a 48.850 on floor to bring their team total to 195.975.
WVU’s season ends with the most wins in school history (28-9), despite the Regional not counting towards the team record.
