Bowling Green State University Athletics
Coach Kerrie's Post Meet Blog
March 04, 2008 | Gymnastics
March 4, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - BG vs. KSU and PSU
The weekend didn't go exactly as planned. The team was carrying a lot of momentum from our two weekend prior, scoring 193 +. Training was going well and I felt the team was on track to really put some meets together during this rare back-to-back competition weekend.
Our warm up at Kent State looked good. Not much adjustment needed to be made and I really felt they were ready to go. We were all in pink for the breast cancer awareness meet at Kent, courtesy of Motionwear leotards. I have to thank them for their help getting us pink leos on short notice Our couple of routines on bars went well. Morgan was up next. She did a huge tchachev, as usual, but missed the bar and landed sitting straight up and down. She did not move and it was obvious she had hurt her back. In an instance, we lost our momentum. I was worried for Morgan- she was in a great deal of pain. The doctor felt it was best to call the ambulance and take her to the hospital. Michelle and Bre were next to compete and both missed their routines. After the event, I pulled the team together and told them not to let this first event define our evening.
The rest of the evening the team did try to come back but it was apparent that they did not stay focused. We had some mistakes on every event. Our last event, beam, was an improvement so I was happy they could bring it together at the end. Shannon and I really worked hard to get the team to move on and just focus on our meet at Penn State the next evening.
After a stop at the hospital to pick up our very busy and exhausted athletic trainer and make a visit to Morgan, we were off to State College. There is no doubt that our gymnast's bodies were tired and sore but I asked them not to mention that even once. It would take a mind over matter situation to excel that evening. The warm-up was fine and we were, once again, ready to go.
We started on floor and they did a nice job. We have just five athletes to compete floor without Morgan so every routine counts. Vault was another good event. Many athletes improved on the night before. We were ahead of George Washington by a miniscule margin going into bars and beam. Unfortunately, the team struggled on bars with missed routines by Katie and Michelle. Bre did make a nice comeback on bars from the night before. We finished on beam with some highlights, including Queenie's 9.775 for second place in the entire quad meet but still had two athletes fall. It was less than Shannon and I expected but better than the night before. The good news was that Morgan had no fractures and she would be returning to BG the next day after her weekend hospital stay.
Now, it's time to shift our focus. We have had a rough road with injuries- five scholarship athletes out at this point. This team needs to find its spirit- its guide for the upcoming meets. We have a great team and there is still so much for us to accomplish. There are four meets left in the regular season that will truly define the character of our athletes and program. I look forward to the challenge and I can't wait to see who is going to step up! Roll Along!
