AMES, Iowa – The No. 25-ranked West Virginia University gymnastics team competes at the 2018 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship this Saturday, March 24, with action inside Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum set to begin at 5 p.m. EDT.
The Mountaineers (13-10, 0-3) open the meet on uneven bars. WVU's complete rotation order is bars, balance beam, floor exercise and vault.
Two-time reigning NCAA national champion and top-ranked Oklahoma (13-1, 3-0) has won the last six Big 12 titles and 10 overall. Also competing for the league title are No. 13 Denver (16-5-1, 2-1), currently in its third season as an affiliate member, and the host Cyclones (18-6, 1-2), who have won two Big 12 titles, the last in 2006.
WVU is 0-3 against the field this season, having lost at each of its Big 12 opponents' home venues. The team's best showing was in Norman, Oklahoma, on Feb. 23, as the Mountaineers earned a then-season best road score in a 198.025-195.75 loss to the Sooners.
"We're going into this weekend not even thinking about this as a championship meet; this is just another road meet for us," Mountaineer coach
Jason Butts said. "I told the team they have just as great a chance as anyone else at this meet to walk away with the title. We've competed inside this facility once this season and we've seen these judges – we know what to expect. We have to remember what's worked for us and led us to success, and that's finding our groove in warmups, having fun and hitting our routines."
The Mountaineers have finished third at the last two Big 12 Gymnastics Championships. Last season, WVU scored 195.575, its second-highest total at a Big 12 Championship away from Morgantown. A pair of Mountaineers earned All-Big 12 Championship Team honors in 2017, as
Kirah Koshinski and
Zaakira Muhammad scored 9.9 in second-place finishes on vault and floor, respectively. For Koshinski, a junior, it was her second career honor. Since 2013, six WVU gymnasts have won nine all-championship awards.
The first team in program history to score at least three 196.0+ totals on the road in one season, this group tallied a season-best 196.775 in a sweep at Towson's five-team meet on March 18. The mark ranks No. 9 in program history and is WVU's best road score since 2004. Five of the Mountaineers' scores this season rank on the program's Top 50 Scores List.
"Last week was such a confidence boost for this team," Butts added. "They really needed to see that they can put up a score like they did, in a hostile environment and against multiple teams."
WVU returned to the Road to Nationals Rankings Top 25 this week, moving up four spots to No. 25 with a 196.07 regional qualifying score (RQS). Koshinski continues to rank nationally on two events, sitting at No. 9 on vault (9.91 RQS) and No. 32 on floor (9.9 RQS). Muhammad ranks No. 47 on vault with a 9.865 RQS.
Muhammad and junior
Jaquie Tun pace the Mountaineers on bars with matching 9.82 RQS marks, while junior
Carly Galpin paces WVU on beam with a 9.82 RQS.
In last week's sweep at Towson, Muhammad earned four podium finishes, including a win in the all-around with a career-best 39.575. She also won balance beam with a career-best 9.925, tied for the bars win with a career-high matching 9.9 and placed second on vault with a 9.9, also a career high. Koshinski won vault with a career-best matching 9.95 and tied for the win on floor with a 9.925 score.
