Bowling Green State University Athletics
Coach Beach's Post Meet Blog
December 15, 2008 | Gymnastics
Dec. 15, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Head coach Kerrie Beach's thoughts on the annual Orange and Brown meet.
We had our annual Orange and Brown intra-squad this past Friday. What a way to start the year! I am pleased to say the majority of the team was healthy enough to compete. The gym was filled with energy and both teams couldn't wait to get started!
We have been working really hard to achieve depth on vault and we are making progress. For the orange team, freshman Dawn Christman led the way with a yurchenko layout half. Breanne Guy, our top vaulter, warmed up a huge yurchenko full but seemed to let the nerves get the best of her so we expect to a much bigger score from her at our upcoming meets. Lexi Psichopaidas did a nice yurchenko layout and Abby Ashley did a nice job with her yurchenko as well. For the brown team, Jenna Wirtanen knocked her tsuk layout full out of the park for the highest vault score of the evening. Andrea Kinzer backed her up with a solid performance on her yurchenko layout full. Queenita Gamble and Andrea Kinzer both landed their vaults successfully as well.
Bars has been a place we have seen a great deal of progress in the gym. Certainly some nerves played a role in a few mistakes at the competition but it is clear bars will be a great event for us at upcoming meets. For team brown, Amber Brewer, returning from ACL surgery, performed a fantastic hop full to giant full combination. Morgan Balzer nailed her tchachev but had a bit too much adrenaline and over-rotated her dismount. Kasey Fillmore caught her giant full-tchachev but had to fight for an over-rotated straddle back handstand. For the orange team, Jholeen Ponce started the event off with a hit giant full-tchachev and a double layout dismount. Megan Chronister and Michelle Luchini both came through with solid routines. Lexi Psichopaidas had a gorgeous geinger but over-rotated her giant full to double back dismount. Lastly, Breanne Guy did a great job with her giant full-geinger and a huge double layout.
On balance beam, team orange had a fantastic night with all five routines hit. Dawn Christman began with a clean routine, including a front tuck mount. Abby Ashley followed with a hit front tuck mount and a handspring-handspring-layout series. Jholeen Ponce nailed her handspring-layout series. Megan Chronister stuck her handspring-handspring-layout series and her side aerial. Breanne Guy also performed her front tuck mount well and finished with a handspring-layout- back layout full dismount. Team brown also performed well on beam. Stacy Kramer started the team off well with a solid front tuck on beam. Katie Follett hit her handspring-handspring-layout series but missed a jump combination at the end of her routine. Carlene Allen did a beautiful handspring-back tuck swing down and kept her aerial on the beam. Kasey Fillmore did the routine of the night. She stuck her front aerial-one-arm front handspring combination and her gainer layout. Jenna Wirtanen also stayed on the beam on her handspring -layout and her side aerial.
Lastly, floor exercise finished up the evening. For team brown, Jenna Wirtanen came through, competing a back 2 ½ twist- front tuck combination for the first time in competition. Kasey Fillmore and Andrea Kinzer both did a great job with their routines. Queenita Gamble had some trouble with her double pike but Stacy Kramer hit her front double twist. Team orange started well with a solid performance by Lauryn Carr. Abby Ashley had some trouble landing her double pike but finished well with a front full-front layout combination. Dawn Christman hit her double pike and front full-front layout but touched her hands down on her double tuck in her last pass. Breanne Guy nailed her double pike, whip ½-front layout and her double tuck for the highest score of the evening.
Overall, we are right on schedule. In addition to the athletes who competed at the intra-squad, we are looking forward to the return of Molly McKinnon who will be ready on at least some events by our season opener and the prospective return of Anna Podgornaya. We will miss Meg Satterlee this year to shoulder surgery but we are happy to have her smile in the gym each day. This is a great team that has survived coaching changes, a very challenging pre-season and high expectations. I can't wait for January 11th at NIU. Go Falcons!!!
