Gymnastics: WVU Set for EAGLs
March 18, 2011 11:04 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia gymnastics team seeks its league-best seventh title at the 2011 East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championship on Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m. George Washington plays host to the meet at the Charles E. Smith Center.
The Mountaineers (9-7, 6-1 EAGL) enter the championship ranked No. 2 in the league behind No. 25-nationally ranked NC State with a 194.955 regional qualifying score (RQS). WVU ranks No. 1 on vault and No. 3 on floor.
West Virginia won its last EAGL title in 2008 and has never gone more than four years between championships. North Carolina, ranked fifth in the league, is the defending champion, while the Wolfpack last won in 2009. The trio of teams has combined for 14 titles since the league’s conception in 1996.
The Mountaineers have faced every league team but third-ranked Maryland at least once this season, with their only loss at NC State of Jan. 21 by a narrow margin, 194.55-194.475.
All-time, WVU owns a combined 258-63-3 record against league competition and holds winning records against each of the seven league squads.
“You can never rule at any team at this championship,” says 37-year coach Linda Burdette-Good. “It always comes down to who hits the most routines. I think we have an advantage, because we will compete in the last rotation. I think that always gives a team a boost.
“When you look at our scores from this season, we are scoring about the same each meet, whether it’s home or away. This squad is concerned only with what it can control, and that is hitting routines and giving their best effort.”
Senior Amy Bieski, ranked No. 3 on the all-time WVU career points list with 1,901.65, enters the meet as the league’s No. 2-ranked gymnast with a 39.075 RQS. She also ranks No. 3 on vault, No. 6 on floor and No. 8 on bars.
The Nanticoke, Pa., native has scored 39.0 points or better in seven meets this season, including a career-high 39.325 points on Feb. 20. A three-time EAGL Gymnast of the Week honoree this year, Bieski is only the third Mountaineer to score at least 23 career 39.0-plus scores. She needs 32.05 points at tomorrow’s championship to pass All-American Lajuanda Moody on the career points list.
Enjoying one of the most successful freshman seasons in a Mountaineer uniform, Hope Sloanhoffer enters the meet ranked in the league’s Top 10 on three events: No. 1 on vault, No. 2 on beam and No. 4 on floor. The Cornwall, N.Y., native has owned the top vault ranking for eight consecutive weeks.
A six-time EAGL Rookie of the Week, and a nine-time overall honoree, Sloanhoffer has scored 9.8 or better in 26 of 33 routines. She owns season highs of 9.95 on vault and 9.875 on beam and floor.
Senior Emily Kerwin, junior Tina Maloney and sophomore Kaylyn Millick also are ranked in the league’s Top 10, each in one event.
Kerwin, a Central, S.C., native, has had her strongest season to date and has been the most consistent, high-scoring worker in the Mountaineers’ bars lineup. Ranked No. 6, she has scored a career-best 9.825 three times this season and has tallied 9.8 or better seven times.
Maloney, the 2009 EAGL vault co-champion, ranks No. 7 on the apparatus with a 9.83 RQS. After opening the season with a 9.875 score, she has tallied a career-best 9.9 twice and scored 9.8 or better five times.
Millick enters her first league championship ranked No. 8 on beam. A transfer from Eastern Michigan, the Washington, Pa., native is arguably one of the team’s most aggressive beam workers and owns a season-best score of 9.825.
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe, a three-event specialist on vault, beam and floor, is the third Mountaineer honored by the league this season, as she earned the Feb. 8 EAGL Specialist of the Week award following a strong meet at Penn State where she finished first on floor with a 9.775 score and earned a career-best 9.8 on vault.
WVU’s rotation order tomorrow is as follows: bye, beam, bye, floor, bye, vault, bye, bars.
Fans wishing to follow the Mountaineers in action can find links for live stats and a video feed at www.MSNsportsNET.com.
The Mountaineers (9-7, 6-1 EAGL) enter the championship ranked No. 2 in the league behind No. 25-nationally ranked NC State with a 194.955 regional qualifying score (RQS). WVU ranks No. 1 on vault and No. 3 on floor.
West Virginia won its last EAGL title in 2008 and has never gone more than four years between championships. North Carolina, ranked fifth in the league, is the defending champion, while the Wolfpack last won in 2009. The trio of teams has combined for 14 titles since the league’s conception in 1996.
The Mountaineers have faced every league team but third-ranked Maryland at least once this season, with their only loss at NC State of Jan. 21 by a narrow margin, 194.55-194.475.
All-time, WVU owns a combined 258-63-3 record against league competition and holds winning records against each of the seven league squads.
“You can never rule at any team at this championship,” says 37-year coach Linda Burdette-Good. “It always comes down to who hits the most routines. I think we have an advantage, because we will compete in the last rotation. I think that always gives a team a boost.
“When you look at our scores from this season, we are scoring about the same each meet, whether it’s home or away. This squad is concerned only with what it can control, and that is hitting routines and giving their best effort.”
Senior Amy Bieski, ranked No. 3 on the all-time WVU career points list with 1,901.65, enters the meet as the league’s No. 2-ranked gymnast with a 39.075 RQS. She also ranks No. 3 on vault, No. 6 on floor and No. 8 on bars.
The Nanticoke, Pa., native has scored 39.0 points or better in seven meets this season, including a career-high 39.325 points on Feb. 20. A three-time EAGL Gymnast of the Week honoree this year, Bieski is only the third Mountaineer to score at least 23 career 39.0-plus scores. She needs 32.05 points at tomorrow’s championship to pass All-American Lajuanda Moody on the career points list.
Enjoying one of the most successful freshman seasons in a Mountaineer uniform, Hope Sloanhoffer enters the meet ranked in the league’s Top 10 on three events: No. 1 on vault, No. 2 on beam and No. 4 on floor. The Cornwall, N.Y., native has owned the top vault ranking for eight consecutive weeks.
A six-time EAGL Rookie of the Week, and a nine-time overall honoree, Sloanhoffer has scored 9.8 or better in 26 of 33 routines. She owns season highs of 9.95 on vault and 9.875 on beam and floor.
Senior Emily Kerwin, junior Tina Maloney and sophomore Kaylyn Millick also are ranked in the league’s Top 10, each in one event.
Kerwin, a Central, S.C., native, has had her strongest season to date and has been the most consistent, high-scoring worker in the Mountaineers’ bars lineup. Ranked No. 6, she has scored a career-best 9.825 three times this season and has tallied 9.8 or better seven times.
Maloney, the 2009 EAGL vault co-champion, ranks No. 7 on the apparatus with a 9.83 RQS. After opening the season with a 9.875 score, she has tallied a career-best 9.9 twice and scored 9.8 or better five times.
Millick enters her first league championship ranked No. 8 on beam. A transfer from Eastern Michigan, the Washington, Pa., native is arguably one of the team’s most aggressive beam workers and owns a season-best score of 9.825.
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe, a three-event specialist on vault, beam and floor, is the third Mountaineer honored by the league this season, as she earned the Feb. 8 EAGL Specialist of the Week award following a strong meet at Penn State where she finished first on floor with a 9.775 score and earned a career-best 9.8 on vault.
WVU’s rotation order tomorrow is as follows: bye, beam, bye, floor, bye, vault, bye, bars.
Fans wishing to follow the Mountaineers in action can find links for live stats and a video feed at www.MSNsportsNET.com.
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