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No. 23 Mountaineers Return to Road
February 25, 2016 02:47 PM | Gymnastics
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 23-ranked West Virginia University gymnastics team returns to the road this weekend for its fourth meet away from Morgantown this month, as the squad is set to compete at the Unite for Her Pink Invitational on Friday, Feb. 26, at 5 p.m., inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The Mountaineers (2-6, 0-3) will compete against Penn State (4-5, 3-2 Big Ten), West Chester (12-3, 2-1 ECAC), Temple (10-10, 4-4 ECAC) and Southern Connecticut (6-15, 0-11 ECAC).
“This has been a short week for us – it really feels like we’re in postseason this week,” Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. “We’ve done a lot of maintenance this week. We competed on Sunday, took Monday off and had two days to train. The team looked really good in the gym, and their attitudes are great.
“I think the highlight of this weekend is that we can bus to a semi-local meet and many of the gymnasts can reconnect with families and friends. Also, this meet is for a great cause. We feel very fortunate to participate in two pink meets this year.”
Despite a 0-5 showing on the road this season, the Mountaineers have tallied 195.0 or better in their last three meets away from the WVU Coliseum, including back-to-back 195.25 scores at No. 2 Oklahoma on Feb. 7 and at No. 4 Alabama on Feb. 14. WVU has now earned 195.0 or better in its last six straight meets and is only the second team in program history to score 195.0+ in six of its first seven meets of the season.
In addition to the team’s strong showing on the road, multiple Mountaineer gymnasts have tallied career-best scores on the road this season, too, including 9.9 and 9.875 showings on vault from sophomores Zaakira Muhammad and Robyn Bernard, respectively. Three additional Mountaineers have hit for career highs on beam on the road this year, too, with sophomore Jordan Gillette scoring 9.875 and senior Audrey Tolbert and freshman Kirah Koshinski tallying 9.8s.
“We’ve been hitting, and I’m happy to see that,” Butts explained. “We did do a lot of work on our beam jumps this week. I think we’ll see our lineups stay the same this weekend because we’re in a good place.”
Friday is the Mountaineers’ first competition since reentering the Road to Nationals Rankings on Feb. 22 at No. 23 with a 195.42 regional qualifying score (RQS). The team has been ranked four out of the last five weeks and reached as high as No. 22 on Jan. 25.
Three Mountaineers also are nationally ranked, with Koshinski and Muhammad tied at No. 17 on vault (9.865 RQS), and junior Alexa Goldberg at No. 23 on bars (9.86 RQS).
The Mountaineers and the Nittany Lions have met once every season since 2005, with the exception of 2013. WVU is 1-11 in that span, with the team’s lone win a 195.15-193.375 victory at PSU in 2008. WVU trails the all-time series, 6-38.
WVU is 42-1 all-time against Temple, led this season by first-year coach Umme Salim-Beasley, a former Mountaineer gymnast.
Friday will be the Mountaineers’ first-ever meeting against West Chester and Southern Connecticut.
The Mountaineers most recently fell to then-No. 22 Kentucky, 195.8-195.6, at the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 21. Goldberg returned to the all-around and finished second with a 39.2 score, the second-highest mark of her career, and also tied her season high on bars with a winning, 9.9 mark. Koshinski earned her first career floor win and matched her career high with a 9.875, while senior Melissa Idell set a career high on beam and tied for the victory with a 9.85. Additionally, Muhammad tied for second place on vault with a 9.875 score.
PSU is coming off a 196.35-195.35 win at Maryland on Feb. 22.The score was a season high for the Nittany Lions, and a PSU gymnast earned each event win, including three victories for junior Kiera Brown.
The Golden Rams most recently tied a school record with a 191.825 showing in a win at Springfield College (186.65) on Feb. 21. Temple scored 191.625, its second-best score of the season, and finished third at Rutgers on Feb. 20, while Southern Connecticut finished fourth in a home quad-meet on Feb. 21 with a 189.075 mark.
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