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Mountaineers Ready for Big 12 Championship
March 18, 2016 01:00 PM | Gymnastics
FRISCO, Texas – The West Virginia University gymnastics team competes for the conference crown at the 2016 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on Saturday, March 19, at 5 p.m. EST, inside the Dr. Pepper Arena.
Saturday’s championship will be broadcast live on FOX Sports Networks and locally on ROOT SPORTS Pittsburgh. John Roethlisberger will cover the play-by-play, Kelly Funderburk will serve as the analyst and Jessica Coody will report from the sideline.
Tickets for the championship are available for purchase now at Big12Sports.com. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for youth (ages 3-12) and $5 for groups of 10 or more.
Arena doors will open at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday. Olympic Gold Medalist Carly Patterson will sign autographs from 3-4 p.m.
“The team is really excited about this championship,” fifth-year WVU coach Jason Butts said. “It’s a bit of a smaller arena, and we’re hoping for a big crowd. I think there will be a lot of energy on the competition floor Saturday, and that bodes well for the Mountaineers.”
WVU (10-6, 0-3) enter the championship ranked No. 3 in the conference. Oklahoma (20-1, 3-0), the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, also sits at the top of the Big 12 standings. No. 10-ranked Denver (17-4, 1-1) sits at No. 2 in the conference, and Iowa State (12-7, 1-1) ranks No 4.
The Mountaineers are one of two teams battling for their first Big 12 title Saturday; affiliate member Denver will make its first championship appearance. The Sooners have won the last four Big 12 titles and eight overall, while Iowa State has won two, the last in 2006.
WVU finished a program-best second at the 2015 Big 12 Championship on March 21, earning a 195.025 score at OU’s Lloyd Noble Center, in Norman, Oklahoma. The team posted its highest point total at the championship in 2014, finishing third at the WVU Coliseum with a 196.375 score. One Mountaineer gymnast has earned a Big 12 title, with Hope Sloanhoffer winning the all-around crown in 2014. A program-best three WVU gymnasts earned All-Big 12 Championship Team honors in 2014, and four gymnasts have combined for six all-championship awards since 2013.
The Mountaineers will open the meet on floor. The team’s complete rotation order is: floor, vault, uneven bars and balance beam. Saturday’s rotation order plays to the team’s favor, as WVU is nationally ranked No. 14 on floor and No. 19 on vault. The squad has scored 49.0 or better on floor in all but three meets this year and has earned 49.2+ in the last five meets, including a season-high 49.575 in wins over Ohio State and Bowling Green on March 6 at the WVU Coliseum; the score matched the third-best mark in program history.
“The team is if focused and knows it has a job to do Saturday,” Butts added. “I don’t think we’re too high or too low right now, and I think that’s helped with our consistency this year.”
Three Mountaineer gymnasts carry national rankings into the championship, including a No. 16 vault ranking for freshman Kirah Koshinski. A 2016 All-Big 12 Team honoree for vault, she ranks No. 3 in the conference with a 9.89 regional qualifying score (RQS). Koshinski has won six vault titles this year and scored 9.85 or better in all but one competition, including a career-best 9.925 twice. A five-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honoree, Koshinski also paces WVU on floor with a 9.875 RQS. She has come on strong on the event as of late, scoring 9.875 or better in the last five competitions and finishing first three times within that span.
Sophomore Zaakira Muhammad ranks No. 27 nationally, No. 6 in the Big 12, on vault. A native of Pennsauken, New Jersey, she has earned three vault wins this season and scored a career-best 9.9 twice, both times away from Morgantown.
Junior Alexa Goldberg ranks No. 42 nationally, No. 8 in the conference, on the uneven bars with a 9.865 RQS. One of the nation’s most consistent bars workers, the Ivyland, Pennsylvania, native has earned five wins this season and scored 9.825 or better in all but one meet, including a season-high 9.9 three times.
Senior Audrey Tolbert paces the team on balance beam with a 9.815 RQS. The Frederick, Maryland, native as scored 9.825 or better in the last four meets, including a career-high 9.875 at the Unite for Her Pink Invitational in Philadelphia on Feb. 26, and earned three podium finishes.
The Mountaineers have scored 195.825 or better in their last four meets, including a season-high 196.8 on March 6. The team has tallied 195.0 or better in all but the 2016 season opener, marking the first time since 2004, and only the second time in program history, WVU has scored 195.0+ in all but one of its regular-season meets.
Oklahoma ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 on all four events. A Sooner gymnast also ranks No. 1 on vault (A.J. Jackson, 9.935 RQS), bars (McKenzie Wofford, 9.95 RQS), balance beam (Chayse Capps, 9.95 RQS) and the all-around (Chayse Capps, 39.62 RQS). Denver’s Nina McGee ranks No. 1 on floor with a 9.965 RQS.
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