Kent State Takes Home Meet Over WMU
Friday's Results
Kent State 195.700, Western Michigan 195.050
Northern Illinois 193.350, Illinois State 192.050
Michigan State 195.850,
Eastern Michigan 194.650
Oregon State 195.825, Alasksa 193.450,
Bowling Green 189.500
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Kent State
Results
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State gymnastics team earned its seventh victory in a row at its annual Pink Meet, defeating Western Michigan 195.700-195.050. The Golden Flashes posted season-high team scores on floor and bars with a 49.225 and a 49.025, respectively.
Sophomore Abby Fletcher tied her career-high 9.925 on floor grabbing her third event title this season. Junior Sarah McCarty posted a season-high 9.900 to finish second, while sophomore Toshi Richard matched her season-high 9.825 for sixth place.
On bars, senior Dara Williams scored a career-high 9.925 to take home her seventh event win this season. Junior Jade Brown earned a career-high 9.825 to tie for third place. Freshman Madison Iannuzzo posted a 9.800 finishing in fifth place.
Senior Sarah Lippowitch recorded a 9.825 tying for second place on beam. Abby Fletcher finished in fourth place with a 9.800, while freshmen Samantha Henry and Cami Klein tied for fifth place with a 9.750. The Flashes finished with a 48.850 on the event.
Kent State scored a 48.600 on vault with Williams and McCarty finishing in the top three. Williams recorded a 9.800 to finish second, while McCarty scored a 9.775 for third place.
Northern Illinois
Results
DeKALB, Ill. – Buoyed by the best performance by the Huskie beam team since 2006, the Northern Illinois University gymnastics team bounced back on balance beam and floor exercise to earn a 193.350-192.050 victory over Illinois State Friday on Senior Night in the Convocation Center.
After a disastrous performance on uneven parallel bars in the second rotation, the Huskies trailed the Redbirds by 1.275 points. NIU immediately went to work on balance beam with five of the six gymnasts tying or exceeding their season and career high scores for a total of 49.175. The beam score was the highest by a Huskie team since 2006, tied for the third-best all-time, and was .075 shy of the top team beam mark ever at NIU.
Catherine Biddle (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) and Cinny Lamberti (Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake HS)
both earned scores of 9.825 on balance beam to tie their career best marks. Senior Anna Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes HS) had a personal best 9.850, as did anchor Mia Lord (McCordsville, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern HS), whose 9.90 was the highest beam score of the season for the Huskies and ties the eighth-highest beam total all-time.
"I felt on beam, we did a great job of settling into us and obviously going above 49 on beam put us back in the hunt," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "I did feel on the first two events, we were feeling the nerves of senior meet. We were pressing, we were trying too hard for [the seniors]. Bars was uncharacteristic for us. Bars is a solid, confident, great event for us so it was disheartening to see that. I told [the team] after bars, let's just restart this meet and get after it on the next two events.
By the time NIU finished its day on beam, the Huskies had cut the Redbirds' lead to .725 points, 145.025-144.300, as NIU headed to its best event, floor exercise.
The floor squad, which included seniors Martucci, Ally Ferber (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset HS) and Paige Nicholas (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran West HS), came through with a 49.050 with four scores of 9.800 or higher, led by freshman Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS)with a 9.850, followed by Ferber's 9.825. Meanwhile, Illinois State struggled on balance beam to open the door for the Huskies to claim the win. NIU improved to 11-4 on the season with the victory, and wrapped up a 7-1 home campaign.
"We're good on floor," Morreale said. "We finished strong on floor and that was what we were trying to do so I felt really good about that. I'm super proud to see them come back, and I was proud of how we vaulted, we had a good start to the meet on vault."
In addition to Lord's win on balance beam, Kofmehl shared first place on floor exercise and Lamberti won vault as she tied her career high with a 9.850 on that event.
The meet was the final regular season home meet of the season for the Huskies, who now travel to the State of Illinois Meet in Champaign next Saturday, March 9, before taking on Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant on March 15.
While Friday's meet represents the last regular season competition for NIU in the Convocation Center this year, the seniors and the rest of the Huskies will play host to the 2019 MAC Gymnastics Championships in the facility on March 23.
Eastern Michigan
Results
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - A season-best vault score was not enough to lift the Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team past Michigan State University inside the Convocation Center Friday night, March 1. The Eagles posted their highest mark of the season on vault, but came up short against the Spartans, 195.850-194.650.
Eastern Michigan began the meet on vault, where the Eagles scored a season-best 48.900. Juniors Emili Dobronics (Orland Park, Ill.-Carl Sandburg) and Allie Smith (Telford, Pa.-Souderton) led the way with a pair of 9.800s, while every other Eagle turned in a score of 9.725-or-better.
Seniors Ciara Gresham (Shiloh, Ill.-Belleville) and Megan Hultgren(Rockford, Ill.-Sacred Heart Classical Center) added a 9.775 each, while sophomores Cali Harden (Saline, Mich.-Saline) and Jada Rondeau (Norwood Young America, Minn.-Central) chipped in a 9.750 and 9.725, respectively.
On bars, sophomore Cortney Bezold (Maineville, Ohio-Bishop Fenwick) scored a 9.825 to take second-place in the event. Dobronics and Rondeau each turned in a 9.775, while senior Carly Clark (White Lake, Mich.-Walled Lake Northern)registered a 9.750 as Eastern tallied a 48.175.
EMU's beam performance was highlighted by career-best performances by freshmen Shannon Gregory (Edison, N.J.-John P. Stevens) and Carly Kosanovich (Moon Twp., Pa.-Moon Area). Gregory scored a team-best 9.775 to place second, while Kosanovich matched Hultgren's score of 9.750.
The Eagles closed out the meet on floor, where they posted their highest event total of the night. Gresham, Satler, and Dobronics paved the way as each registered a 9.825. Rondeau tallied a 9.800 and Smith and Gregory recorded 9.775's as EMU tallied a 49.050.
Eastern's final push on floor was not enough to reclaim the lead though, as Michigan State edged EMU, 195.850-194.650.
Eastern Michigan returns to action Sunday, March 10, when the Eagles trek to Kalamazoo for a clash with Western Michigan University. The meet is slated to begin at 1 p.m.
Bowling Green
Results
Corvallis, Ore. – Jovannah East tied the program record with a 9.950 on vault, springboarding the junior to a 39.175 all-around scored as the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team competed at No. 15 Oregon State Friday night. The Falcons also competed against Alaska at the meet.
Oregon State came away with the victory, posting a 195.825 team score. Alaska was second at 193.450 and Bowling Green was third at 189.500. As a team, the Falcons set a season-best score on vault and nearly broke the program record on the event.
