Bowling Green State University Athletics
Gymnastics Season Comes to an End
March 31, 2007 | Gymnastics
March 31, 2007
YPSILANTI, Michigan - The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team competed in the Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday March 31. It was a bitter sweet ending for the Orange and Brown as they took seventh out of seven only scoring a 191.925. Winning the meet was the host team, Eastern Michigan (194.525).They were followed by Kent State (194.275), Central Michigan (194.050), Ball State (193.400), Northern Illinois (192.950), and Western Michigan (192.200).
"This was a hard meet for us," head coach Dan Connelly said. "We thought that we were capable of scoring higher then what we did, and it is frustrating to see our season end like this."
The Falcons opened the meet up on bars where the heart of the team was shown in Sakura Tomita. She fought through pain and tears to land BG's best score on bars at 9.700 and finish 13th. Morgan Balzer had a great day scoring 38.375 in the all-around, with 9.650 coming on the bars. As a team however the Orange and Brown only scored a 47.925 just .2 above their season average.
Connelly just couldn't say enough about Tomita's performance, "What Sak did for us tonight was just amazing to see. She was fighting through pain to help her team out. If this was an individual sport she would have called it quits, but she went out there and did all she could do for the team."
Next BGSU moved to the beam. Like the bars the Falcons saw another face give everything she had for her team, Jholeen Ponce. Ponce has not touched the beam in over two weeks, but chose to perform today in hopes to better her team's score. She tied Katie Follette at 9.600 placing them both in 25th. Jenna Wirtanen led the way with a score of 9.725, placing her in 10th. As a team the Falcons scored 47.950, only .25 of a point behind their season high.
"It was huge of Jo to step up like she did tonight. We are really looking forward to her continuing to improve next season, and I think her future will be fun to watch," Connelly said.
The Falcons thought that having their last two events as floor and vault would allow for the big scores to appear. This was not the case on floor. Their top performances came from Allison Swafford and Balzer who both placed 22nd with a score of 9.675. Rachel Gourley finished 27th with 9.650.
The vault had been the strongest event for the team this season; however, today was not their day as the Falcons scored their second lowest vault score on the season at 47.925. Jacque Bernhardt posted the team's best score of 9.725 placing her in 11th. Swafford placed in 15th after scoring a 9.700.
With this season coming to an end the Falcons will say goodbye to six seniors, Erin Coudriet, Bethany Kenel, Jillian Stranges, Allison Swafford, Sakura Tomita, and Karly Yohe. Connelly is however, very positive towards next year's team, "Even though tonight was a disappointing performance we are a young team. Tonight you saw a lot of what next year's team is going to be like. There are 24 spots in our lineup, and after today we will need to replace three of those. We have some very talented freshmen coming in, and with their help I think we will be a strong team next year."
Vault
Balzer 9.525
Gamble 9.425
Swafford 9.700
deLeeuw 9.600
Wirtanen 9.000
Bernhardt 9.725
Bars
Chronister 9.500
Wirtanen 9.550
Ponce 9.525
Balzer 9.650
deLeeuw 9.000
Tomita 9.700
Beam
Chronister 9.500
Balzer 9.525
Follett 9.600
Gamble 8.575
Wirtanen 9.725
Ponce 9.600
Floor
Wirtenen 9.600
Chronister 8.925
Gourley 9.650
Swafford 9.675
Balzer 9.675
Bernhardt 9.525
