Saturday, March 23
Norman, Okla.
2:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
at
Big 12
Photo by: Steven Prunty
Mountaineers Surge into Big 12 Championship
March 22, 2019 03:06 PM | Gymnastics
NORMAN, Okla. – The West Virginia University gymnastics team opens its 2019 postseason at the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on Saturday, March 23, at 2 p.m. EST, inside the University of Oklahoma's Lloyd Noble Center.
Saturday's match will be broadcast on ESPNU. Links for a video stream and live scores are available at WVUsports.com.
Also competing for the conference crown are the No. 1-ranked Sooners (16-0, 4-0), No. 5 Denver (18-2, 4-2) and No. 22 Iowa State (9-8, 2-4). OU has claimed the last seven championships.
"We're just really confident," Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said of his team's mindset. "They're ready to go; they're in automatic mode right now. It's exactly where we want to be as we move into Saturday.
"We always want to bring the trophy home with us; the goal is always going to be to win. More importantly for us, though, is to hit 24 routines. This is a great opportunity for us to get a great road score and boost our ranking as we get ready for regionals. We just need to go out there and do what we've been doing consistently for the past few weeks and hit those 24 routines."
The Mountaineers open the meet on balance beam for the fourth time this season. WVU is 7-0 when starting on balance beam and 12-3 in quad meets this year.
Last year, No. 25-ranked WVU finished fourth at the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on March 24, scoring 195.625 inside Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The score was the Mountaineers' second-best mark earned at a Big 12 Championship away from Morgantown.
WVU finished a program-high second at the 2015 Big 12 Championship, the last held in Norman, with a 195.025 score. The Mountaineers' championship record is 196.375, earned in a third-place finish at the 2014 Big 12 Championship at the WVU Coliseum.
Senior Kirah Koshinski is the lone current Mountaineer to earn an All-Big 12 Championship Team honor, as she was named to the 2016 and 2017 vault squads. Since 2013, six WVU gymnasts have claimed nine all-championship awards, including assistant coach Kaylyn Millick (all-around, 2013).
Earlier this week, Koshinski was named to the All-Big 12 Vault Team, her third career honor and first since 2017. The Berwick, Pennsylvania, native ranks No. 2 in the conference, No. 6 nationally, with a 9.925 National Qualifying Score (NQS).
The Mountaineers enter the postseason on the heels of their best performance of the year, as they swept their regular-season finale at the WVU Coliseum on March 17 with a season-best score of 196.425. Koshinski finished first on vault (9.925) and floor exercise (9.9), while classmate Jaquie Tun claimed the all-around title and balance beam victories with career-best scores of 39.425 and 9.9.
Also included in the Mountaineers' showing last Sunday was a season-best 49.3 score on balance beam. The point total matched the second-best mark in program history and the team's record inside the WVU Coliseum.
"We've been saying all season that our beam lineup has the most depth, and really it's probably our most talented lineup, too," Butts added. "They went out and rocked it on Sunday, and I think we're going to do the same thing on Saturday. I'm really proud of this lineup."
Koshinski also paces the Mountaineers on floor exercise and ranks No. 23 nationally with an NQS of 9.915. Tun follows in the floor rankings at No. 38 (9.89 NQS).
Tun paces the Mountaineers on uneven bars with a 9.84 NQS, while freshman Rachel Hornung shows a team-best 9.8 NQS on balance beam. Junior Abby Kaufman owns a 39.055 NQS in the all-around.
Saturday's match will be broadcast on ESPNU. Links for a video stream and live scores are available at WVUsports.com.
Also competing for the conference crown are the No. 1-ranked Sooners (16-0, 4-0), No. 5 Denver (18-2, 4-2) and No. 22 Iowa State (9-8, 2-4). OU has claimed the last seven championships.
"We're just really confident," Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said of his team's mindset. "They're ready to go; they're in automatic mode right now. It's exactly where we want to be as we move into Saturday.
"We always want to bring the trophy home with us; the goal is always going to be to win. More importantly for us, though, is to hit 24 routines. This is a great opportunity for us to get a great road score and boost our ranking as we get ready for regionals. We just need to go out there and do what we've been doing consistently for the past few weeks and hit those 24 routines."
The Mountaineers open the meet on balance beam for the fourth time this season. WVU is 7-0 when starting on balance beam and 12-3 in quad meets this year.
Last year, No. 25-ranked WVU finished fourth at the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on March 24, scoring 195.625 inside Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The score was the Mountaineers' second-best mark earned at a Big 12 Championship away from Morgantown.
WVU finished a program-high second at the 2015 Big 12 Championship, the last held in Norman, with a 195.025 score. The Mountaineers' championship record is 196.375, earned in a third-place finish at the 2014 Big 12 Championship at the WVU Coliseum.
Senior Kirah Koshinski is the lone current Mountaineer to earn an All-Big 12 Championship Team honor, as she was named to the 2016 and 2017 vault squads. Since 2013, six WVU gymnasts have claimed nine all-championship awards, including assistant coach Kaylyn Millick (all-around, 2013).
Earlier this week, Koshinski was named to the All-Big 12 Vault Team, her third career honor and first since 2017. The Berwick, Pennsylvania, native ranks No. 2 in the conference, No. 6 nationally, with a 9.925 National Qualifying Score (NQS).
The Mountaineers enter the postseason on the heels of their best performance of the year, as they swept their regular-season finale at the WVU Coliseum on March 17 with a season-best score of 196.425. Koshinski finished first on vault (9.925) and floor exercise (9.9), while classmate Jaquie Tun claimed the all-around title and balance beam victories with career-best scores of 39.425 and 9.9.
Also included in the Mountaineers' showing last Sunday was a season-best 49.3 score on balance beam. The point total matched the second-best mark in program history and the team's record inside the WVU Coliseum.
"We've been saying all season that our beam lineup has the most depth, and really it's probably our most talented lineup, too," Butts added. "They went out and rocked it on Sunday, and I think we're going to do the same thing on Saturday. I'm really proud of this lineup."
Koshinski also paces the Mountaineers on floor exercise and ranks No. 23 nationally with an NQS of 9.915. Tun follows in the floor rankings at No. 38 (9.89 NQS).
Tun paces the Mountaineers on uneven bars with a 9.84 NQS, while freshman Rachel Hornung shows a team-best 9.8 NQS on balance beam. Junior Abby Kaufman owns a 39.055 NQS in the all-around.
Players Mentioned
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Associate Head Coach Travis Doak | Intro
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Head Coach Jason Butts | Intro
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