Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Look to Improve on Road
February 22, 2007 | Gymnastics
Feb. 22, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - On Friday (Feb. 23) the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team will travel to Missouri University to compete in the CAT Classic. The event will begin at 8:00 p.m. EST (7:00 p.m. CST). The meet will consist of four teams: BGSU, Missouri, Eastern Michigan, and William and Mary. On Saturday there will be an individual event that will also begin at 8:00 p.m. EST (7:00 p.m. CST). Missouri is currently ranked 17th in this week's GymInfo Top 25 poll.
Last Time Out
Last Sunday (Feb. 18), BGSU fell to 23rd ranked Kent State by a score of 193.700-192.225. The Orange and Brown, however, continued to improve by scoring their best team score on floor. All six Falcons that competed on floor scored 9.625 or better. Leading the way was senior co-captain Allison Swafford, who tied her season high at 9.750. Junior Jacque Bernhard scored her best of the season with a 9.725. Bernhardt also led the team on vault where she landed a 9.800 and a first place finish. With her outstanding performance in those two events, she was awarded the Mid-American Conference Specialist of the Week.
Sophomore Jenna Wirtanen posted her best vault of her career with a 9.725. Bars saw Sakura Tomita tie her season best at 9.775 and tie for second. On beam Bethany Kenel and Katie Follett continue to shine as they scored 9.775 and 9.750, respectively, for third and fourth place finishes. In the all-around Morgan Balzer finished second for the third straight week, scoring a 37.875.
Scouting the Tigers
Besides being ranked 17th in the country, the Tigers are also ranked 12th on floor, 15th on vault, 20th on bars, and 21st on beam. Junior Julie Abaray finished first on bars, beam, and floor, last week. On bars, she set a personal best with a score of 9.8500, on floor with a 9.875, and on beam tied her personal best with a 9.850. Sophomore Adrianne Perry won the all-around and vault with scores of 39.325 and 9.925, respectively. The last time these two met up was in 2002 where the Falcons edged out MU 193.775-193.275.
Avenging a Loss
The Falcons will come face to face with MAC opponent Eastern Michigan for the second straight time this season. While it will not count as a MAC game, BGSU would like to avenge their early loss (192.475-188.925). Last week (Feb. 17), the Eagles defeated Ball State 191.900-189.450.
Making up for Last Season
The Falcons have something to prove, as they fell to William and Mary last year 188.350-187.475. That was the first time that these two teams have met. Last week (Feb. 17), the Tribe matched their season-high score of 186.225 and finished fifth out of five. Senior Christina Padilla led W&M in two events, scoring 9.675 on vault and 9.550 on bars.
The Road Trip Continues
After a long weekend in Missouri, the Orange and Brown get a week off before heading to Texas to compete at Texas Women's University. Here they will meet up with South Eastern Missouri State, Kentucky and Texas Women's University. That meet will begin at 7:00 p.m. Following that, the team will return home to finish out their season with the All-Ohio. They will face Ohio State and a re-match against Kent State. This meet will be held inside Anderson Arena at 7:00 p.m.
