Gym Blog: Swoboda Sees Steady Improvement
January 29, 2015 12:40 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 2015 West Virginia University gymnastics season opened much differently for sophomore Nicolette Swoboda than 2014 ended.
The Westbury, New York, native competed in the all-around in all 11 team meets as a freshman, earning a 38.84 regional qualifying score (RQS) and advancing to the NCAA Athens Regional Championships, where she finished seventh with a 38.975 mark.
Swoboda accepted a diminished role at the onset of this season, competing only vault and floor in the team’s season-opening meet at Maryland on January 17. She added balance beam to her duties at Ohio State the following weekend, but she still struggled to crack the uneven bars lineup – until January 25.
Following a 47.7 showing on bars at OSU, Swoboda was given the chance she needed on bars, as she competed in the lineup’s No. 3 spot in the Mountaineers’ home opener last Sunday for her first all-around appearance of the season. She earned three scores of 9.75 or better, with her lowest showing a 9.65 on bars, for a 39.0 total and a fifth-place finish.
“It was really exciting to compete all-around,” she recalled. “I was a little nervous going into the meet, but then I remembered that I did it all last year, and freshman year is more nerve-wracking than sophomore year. It was a lot of fun.”
Swoboda’s score was her third-best career all-around mark. She currently ranks No. 40 nationally, No. 6 in the Southeast Region and No. 2 in the Big 12.
Swoboda’s floor score of 9.775, a season high, helped push the Mountaineers to a season-best 48.95 mark, putting their final tally at 194.85, also a 2015 best, and ensuring their draw with No. 23 Iowa State. WVU (1-4-1, 0-0-1) has improved its team score by 0.675 in each of the last two meets, and Swoboda believes the team can continue the trend this Saturday at its quad-meet at NC State.
“We’re hoping to go in there and hit four-for-four (events) and fix up our little mistakes from the meet we had last weekend,” she explained. “We really want to have a good meet and get a good road score.”
If the Mountaineers again improve by 0.675 points, the squad will hit the 195.0+ mark for the first time this season. WVU failed to score 195.0 or better on the road in 2014.
“That would be really big – it would bring us up in the rankings and help our RQS,” she said. “Our cheering was really great (last meet), and our form was good. We had little mistakes, but I definitely think we fixed those in the gym this week, and we’re hoping to show it off this weekend.”
The Mountaineers face the Wolfpack, along with North Carolina and William & Mary, at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum.
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Just three weeks into the 2015 season, seven perfect scores, six on vault, have been awarded throughout the NCAA, including two in one meet to No. 1-ranked and reigning NCAA Champion Oklahoma last Friday.
Nine Mountaineer gymnasts earned at least one 10.0 score from 1991-2004, but the WVU program has been without a perfect mark since Jessica Bartgis earned a 10.0 on vault against Cornell in Morgantown on Feb. 8, 2004. NCAA rule changes can certainly shoulder much of the blame for the void of Mountaineer 10.0s, as different scoring elements have made it more difficult for gymnasts to earn a perfect mark. Yet, after a seemingly nation-wide drought, the 10.0 has gradually been reintroduced to collegiate gymnastics, and if the last three weeks are any indication, elusive perfection is now within reach.
Could this be the year a Mountaineer gymnast earns a 10.0? Coach Jason Butts certainly thinks so.
“Absolutely – I think we have a few athletes that could do it,” he started. “Alexa Goldberg, on a perfect day, could absolutely get a 10.0 on bars. We have four vaults that could easily score a perfect score with the right landing. Beth Deal on beam – that’s a routine poised for a 10.0. I would love to see it happen.”
Goldberg, a sophomore currently ranked No. 20 in the nation, owns a career high of 9.925 on bars, scored in her first collegiate meet on Jan. 10, 2014. She owns three career scores of 9.9 or better and has not tallied a mark lower than 9.85 so far this season.
Deal is one of eight Mountaineer gymnasts to earn a 9.95 on beam, the second-best mark in program history, as she tallied the career high at The Perfect 10 Challenge on Feb. 21, 2014. The senior, ranked No. 33 nationally, also owns three career scores of 9.9 or better.
While four gymnasts have a chance of scoring a 10.0 on vault at any meet, junior Jaida Lawrence may be the team’s surest shot. In three seasons, the Rocky Hill, Connecticut, native has scored below 9.825 on vault only seven times. The nation’s No. 41-ranked gymnast, she owns a career high of 9.925, also set at The Perfect 10 Challenge, and has tallied a 9.9+ score six times, the seventh-best mark in program history, including a season-best 9.9 score earned on January 17 at Ohio State. Lawrence has earned three podium finishes this season, including her first win of 2015 last week with a 9.875 score. She has grabbed the vault title 10 times throughout her career.
Umme Salim is the only Mountaineer to earn a 10.0 on bars, as she set the program record against George Washington and Rutgers in Morgantown on March 14, 1998. A Mountaineer has yet to record a 10.0 on beam. Rebecca Slobig came close, as she earned a program-record 9.975 against Minnesota and NC State in Morgantown on February 20, 1999. There are nine 10.0 floor scores on record for WVU gymnastics, with TeShawne Jackson scoring the last one against Florida, New Hampshire, Cornell and Yale in Morgantown on March 16, 2003.
Coach Butts appreciates the current trend of awarding perfect marks, with the hope that more gymnasts are recognized for their routines in the future.
“I don’t mind if the scores stay high all year long, as long as the judging is consistent across the nation,” Butts explained. “We try to come up with all this parity, but year after year, I think the best team wins the National Championship.”
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Looking for a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the family? Make plans now to join the Mountaineers at their next home meet, a showdown against No. 20 Denver on Friday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m., at the WVU Coliseum. It’s a “Dollar Night,” and all tickets, hot dogs, popcorn and Coca-Colas will be available for $1 each.
Let’s Go Mountaineers!
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