GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 22-ranked West Virginia University gymnastics team closes its regular season slate at No. 3-ranked and reigning Southeastern Conference champion Florida on Friday, March 10, at 6:45 p.m., at the Exactech Arena at the Stephan C. O’Connell Center.
Friday is the Mountaineers’ (12-7, 2-1) third meet of the season against a top-10 team. WVU is 1-1 against top-10 opponents and 2-4 against all ranked teams this year.
“The team is really excited for this meet. Florida puts on an amazing event, and there will be a ton of fans there,” WVU coach Jason Butts said. “This is a good set-up for us as we head into the Big 12 Championship and the NCAA Regional Championships. The gymnastics is there for the team, and we just have to go in there and compete with confidence. We can’t control what Florida or the judges do – we just need to go in there and feed off the environment.”
WVU and Florida (7-2, 5-2 SEC) have met 14 times since 1982, and UF owns a 12-2 series advantage. Despite scoring a season-high road mark in their last meeting in Gainesville, the Mountaineers dropped a 198.325-194.925 decision to the No. 2-ranked and eventual National Champion Gators on March 7, 2014. The only current Mountaineer gymnast to previously compete at UF, senior Alexa Goldberg tallied a 9.775 on floor that evening.
After sitting at No. 26 for two weeks, the Mountaineers reentered the Road to Nationals Rankings this week at No. 22, their second-highest position of the year, and boast a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 195.84.
“I don’t think there is a ceiling for this team,” Butts added. “We have a chance to go on the road two more times this year and better our RQS. We just need to go out there, hit 24-for-24 and get our job done.”
The Mountaineers also are nationally ranked at No. 18 on vault (49.085) and No. 24 on floor (49.08). Three WVU gymnasts own four combined national rankings. Sophomore Kirah Koshinski sits at No. 14 on vault (9.895) and No. 22 on floor (9.895), while junior Zaakira Muhammad ranks No. 28 on vault (9.86) and senior Alexa Goldberg ranks No. 50 on uneven bars (9.86). Koshinski also paces the team on balance beam with an RQS of 9.775.
A native of Berwick, Pennsylvania, Koshinski is coming off a career-high weekend, as she tallied a career-best 9.95 on vault at Pitt on March 3 and on floor in a quad meet at the WVU Coliseum on March 5. Muhammad also was strong last weekend, winning the all-around at Pitt with a 39.375 score which included a career-best matching 9.9 on bars. On beam, two Mountaineers set career highs in each meet last weekend, as freshman Abby Kaufman scored 9.85 on Friday and 9.9 on Sunday, and senior Brooklyn Doggette tallied 9.85 on Friday and 9.875 on Sunday.
Of note, Muhammad needs 13.725 points Friday night to reach the 1,000 career-point mark.
The Gators rank within the top six nationally on all four events, including No. 2 on vault (49.44). UF also ranks No. 4 on bars (49.38), No. 5 on floor (49.395) and No. 6 on beam (49.335).
Junior Alex McMurtry paces the Gators on bars and beam and ranks No. 5 (9.93) and No. 11 (9.905), respectively. Alongside junior teammate Rachel Slocum, she also rank No. 2 on vault (9.919). Sophomore Alicia Boren ranks No. 5 on floor (9.945) and No. 6 in the all-around (39.53).
UF is coming off a 198.15-196.6 loss at No. 2 LSU on March 5. McMurtry tallied a 10.0 on vault and earned a share of the event win. The perfect score was the sixth career 10.0 mark for McMurtry. Boren finished first in the all-around with a 39.55 mark, and freshman Amelia Hundley scored 39.425 and finished in second.
