PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The West Virginia University gymnastics team recorded a season-best overall score to take first place in a quad meet at Pitt with NC State and Alaska Anchorage inside Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Mountaineers (5-3, 0-2 Big 12) tallied a season-best 195.925 to secure first place, as the host Panthers secured second place with a 195.8. NC State followed in third place with a 194.550, and Alaska Anchorage tallied a 191.25 total to finish in fourth place. West Virginia's 195.925 total is just outside the program's top-50 team scores all-time and is its highest since recording a 196.1 in the 2021 regular-season finale on March 14.
 
In addition to recording a season-high overall score, WVU also secured season bests on balance beam and the uneven bars.
 
"I'm really pleased with how we came out here this afternoon, especially given how this weekend started for us in missing out on our trip to Arkansas," Mountaineer coach Jason Butts said. "Things didn't go how we planned, but we challenged the team to really stay focused and deliver a quality performance today. We went several days without training, which is not something they're used to, so the fact that they were able to come in here and show the energy that they did today was really impressive."
 
West Virginia opened on the balance beam and started a bit shaky, but the second half of the lineup earned three straight 9.8+ scores to help secure a season-high 48.925 on the event. Senior Rachel Hornung started the positive momentum, earning a 9.775, before classmate Kendra Combs ascended the beam and earned a 9.825. Following the shaky start, sophomore Kiana Lewis was added into the No. 5 spot and stepped up to the plate to earn a 9.8 in her season debut on the event. In the anchor position, sophomore Chloe Asper led the lineup and earned a season-high 9.85 to help the team tally a season-best event score.
 
The Mountaineers' second rotation was floor exercise and four gymnasts earned a 9.8+ for a 49.15 event total. Junior Abbie Pierson led the lineup with a season-high matching 9.9 to take first overall in the event. Combs and Lewis secured matching 9.85's, while freshman Anna Leigh opened the rotation with a 9.8.
 
In the third rotation on vault, five of six gymnasts earned a 9.775 or higher to give WVU a 49.000, just shy of the team's season high on the event. Lewis led the lineup, earning a season-high 9.825 to finish in a tie for first overall with three other gymnasts. Yancey, Hornung and freshman Brooke Alban secured a trio of 9.8's, as the total was a career-high matching for Hornung and a new career high for Alban.
 
West Virginia finished the meet on bars, recording another season-best performance with a 48.85 total. Hornung and Yancey paced the lineup with matching 9.8's, a season-best for Hornung, while Combs added a solid 9.775 in the No. 5 spot. The highlight of the rotation, though, was Pierson's career debut on the event, as she earned an impressive 9.75 in her first-ever bars performance in collegiate competition.
 
Three Mountaineers competed on the all-around at Pitt on Sunday. Combs and Hornung each tallied career-high totals, while Pierson made her career debut on the all-around. Combs secured a 39.225 to finish second overall, Hornung earned a 39.125 for third place and Pierson tallied a 38.575.
 
"This was the team performance we've known we had since the beginning of the year," Butts continued. "We had a couple of stumbles here and there, but this is the team that we need right now that's eventually going to carry us into the postseason."
 
In addition to securing a career-high on vault, Alban's 9.8 on the event was the first mark of 9.8 or better of her Mountaineer career.
 
Also of note, the Mountaineers and Alaska Anchorage met for the first time in program history at Pitt on Sunday.
 
West Virginia now looks ahead to hosting the Panthers, along with Texas Woman's, at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, on Friday, Feb. 11. The competition is the team's Women's Empowerment Meet and will begin at 7 p.m. ET, and be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUGymnastics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.