Mountaineers Score Season Best in Second-Place Finish

Sunday, March 1

Morgantown, W.Va.

2:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

196.425

196.5

Pittsburgh

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

March 01, 2020 07:34 PM | Gymnastics

Results Coach Butts Post Meet Photo Gallery Highlights

By: Amy Salvatore

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A season-best score of 196.425 was not enough to give the West Virginia University gymnastics team its third sweep of the season, as the Mountaineers finished in second place on Sunday, at the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown.

Pitt scored 196.5 and finished first overall, while Rutgers placed third with a 195.3.

The Mountaineers (11-7, 0-2 Big 12) matched the 15th-best score in program history thanks to three first-place event showings. WVU was most impressive on balance beam, where all six gymnasts scored 9.8 or better, giving the Mountaineers a season-high 49.225 score. The event total matches the fourth-best score in program history.

"It's that point in the year where everyone is watching around the country trying to predict who is going to end up where in the postseason," Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. "It is very important this time of year, especially in an event like beam, for us to be peaking. We've had that same talent all year long on that event. We're getting into that grove. We're finding the lineup that is going to work, and sometimes it takes time. I'd rather be peaking now than having peaked in January."

West Virginia also finished first on floor exercise with a 49.375. The Mountaineers' floor total marks the fourth consecutive meet and fifth time this season WVU has scored 49.0+. It also is the Mountaineers' second-highest floor score of the year.

Senior Chloe Cluchey posted a personal best on floor, scoring 9.95 in the No. 3 position to win the event outright. Cluchey's total was the team's highest individual score of the season. The Woodbridge, Virginia, native has scored 9.9 or better twice this season and has won the event outright three times. She also is the first WVU gymnast to earn a 9.95+ since Kirah Koshinski scored a 9.975 on March 17, 2019.

"She loves putting on a performance, especially in front of the home crowd," Butts said. "Right before she went, she told me she was going to get a 10.0. I said 'that sounds good to me; I'm not going to argue with that.' It was a beautiful routine. Her athletic ability is incredible. It was a well-deserved score."

In addition to its wins on beam and floor, West Virginia also finished first on uneven bars with a season-high 48.975 score.

WVU tallied 48.85 on vault and placed third. Pitt won the event title with a 49.2 mark.

"Warmups were absolutely incredible, so that's always nice going into the competition part," Butts said. "They were very relaxed today. They knew they had a job to get done. Second place isn't where we want to finish, but it was a great score, and we really needed that at this point in the season. They came out and got the job done. We hit 24-for-24 routines, and that's about all we can ask them to do."

The Mountaineers opened the meet on vault and finished with a team total of 48.85, putting WVU in third place through one rotation. Junior Michelle Waldron tied for fifth with a career-high matching 9.8 in the No. 4 position. Junior McKenna Linnen and freshman Abbie Pierson proceeded Waldron in the lineup and tied for eighth with matching 9.775s. Linnen's mark also tied her personal-best score set last weekend at the WVU Coliseum. Senior Abby Kaufman and freshman Kianna Yancey tallied 9.75s and tied for 13th overall. Senior Julia Merwin added a 9.725.

Pitt's Alecia Petrikis won vault with a 9.9 total.

The Mountaineers made up ground in the second rotation, scoring a season-high 48.975 on bars and pushing their two-event total to 97.825, but remained in third. Sophomore Esperanza Abarca tied for the bars win with Pitt's Michaela Burton, scoring matching 9.85 totals. Sophomore Kendra Combs tied for third place with a season-high mark of 9.825, while classmate Rachel Hornung, who appeared in the bars lineup for the first time this season, scored a career-high 9.775 in the anchor position and tied for sixth overall with Kianna Yancey. Freshman Kayla Yancey and Cluchey added matching 9.75s in the event.

WVU continued to persevere in the third rotation, tallying a season-best 49.225 on beam and pushing its three-event mark to 147.05. Despite all six competing gymnasts finishing inside the top 10, the Mountaineers continued to sit in third place. Pierson and Abarca tied for second with matching 9.875s, just short of their career highs. Hornung tallied 9.85 for the third consecutive meet and placed sixth, while Combs tied for seventh with a 9.825. Kaufman and Linnen tied for 10th place with 9.8s. Of note, Linnen's mark matched her season-high total last set in the Mountaineers' 2020 season opener on Jan. 11.

Pitt's Burton won beam with a 9.9 total.

WVU's final push on floor was highlighted by Cluchey's 9.95 score in the No. 3 slot. The mark is her fourth career floor score of 9.9 or better. Combs tied for fourth with a 9.875, while senior Erica Fontaine, Linnen and Kaufman tied for seventh with matching 9.85s. Pierson anchored the floor lineup with a 9.775 and finished 17th.

With the win against Rutgers, the Mountaineers improve to 58-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights. Despite the loss, WVU continues to hold a 65-16-2 all-time series advantage over Pitt.

Looking ahead, West Virginia will take its second trip of the season to Iowa on Sunday, March 8, for a meet against the Hawkeyes in Iowa City at 2 p.m. ET.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.