Bowling Green State University Athletics
Short Week Results in a Loss for the Falcons
February 24, 2007 | Gymnastics
Feb. 24, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mossouri - The short week certainly influenced the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team as they finished third out of four in the CAT Classic on Friday. The host, Missouri, showed why they were ranked 17th in the country by scoring a 196.075. Finishing behind the Tigers was fellow Mid-American Conference opponent Eastern Michigan (191.775), followed by BGSU (190.650) and William and Mary (187.700). Even with the third place finish, the Orange and Brown had several girls put together solid routines.
The Falcons opened the meet on bars. Senior co-captain Sakura Tomita scored a 9.800 to immediately help the team. This score placed her tied for second, and was a new career high. Junior Ashlee deLeeuw finished in eighth, tying her career best at 9.750, and Morgan Balzer finished tied for eleventh with a score of 9.650. BGSU posted their second highest team score of the season at 48.275.
"Tonight was a rough meet for us." head coach Dan Connelly said. "We had a short week, with competing on Sunday then leaving Thursday for Missouri. Bars was a challenging event for us, but I am very pleased with the performances of Sak and Ashlee."
Next, the team moved to their most challenging event, the beam. Junior Jholeen Ponce recorded her second highest score on the season at 9.800, finishing fifth behind a first place score of 9.925 from MU's Julie Abaray. Freshman Megan Chronister also had a career night, as she finished tied for seventh, with a new personal best of 9.750. Even though Ponce and Chronister put up high scores, the team struggled as they posted their worst team score of the season at 46.500.
"Beam was rough for us tonight." Head coach Dan Connelly said. "We had four out of out six girls fall off. Megan and Jo did wonderful routines, and I was very pleased with their effort."
As the team headed into their two strongest events, they hoped they could turn their rough start around.
Freshman Rachel Gourley came into her own tonight, as she led the Orange and Brown on floor. Her new career high of 9.700 was only good enough to tie her for seventh as again, Missouri was too strong and took the top five places. Junior Jacque Bernhardt was the next Falcon to finish, with a score of 9.675 and a ninth place slot. Bethany Kenel and Morgan Balzer both scored 9.550 and tied for 13th. This would be the first time in the last four meets the floor team score was not higher then a 48.000, as the team finished the night with 47.625.
The Falcons' leader all season long on vault has been Bernhardt, and tonight was no exception. She has scored 9.700 or higher in every meet thus far this season and finished tied for fifth with a 9.775 on Friday. Ponce placed tied for tenth with a 9.700. Jenna Wirtanen finished in 16th (9.625), followed by Balzer and deLeeuw in 17th (9.575).
Morgan Balzer competed in the all-around for the fourth consecutive week and tied for third scoring 37.950.This is her second highest score on the season.
With Friday's meet behind them, the Falcons will look forward to a much-needed two week break. Tomorrow, however, six gymnasts will compete in the individual challenges held at the CAT Classic. Ponce and Bernhardt will represent BGSU on vault, Tomita and deLeeuw on bars, Ponce and Chronister on beam, and Bernhardt and Gourley on floor. The individual competition will be on Saturday (Feb. 24), again starting at 8:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. CST. The team will return to competition on March 10, when they travel to Texas Women's University. That meet will also begin at 7:00 p.m.
Connelly is looking forward to their break and knows it will help his team's focus. "It is going to be nice to not competing for a week. We have a lot of hurt bodies that need time to heal up, and that's what an off week does for us. We will continue to work on our routines and our consistency, preparing us for MACs."
