Bowling Green State University Athletics
Coach Kerrie's Post Northern Illinois Meet Blog
January 12, 2009 | Gymnastics
Jan. 12, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Head coach Kerrie Beach's thoughts on the Falcons' season opener against Northern Illinois. Despite a great open to the season the Falcons fell to the Huskies 193.450-191.875.
Ahh, the first meet is over. There is nothing like getting your team out there for the first meet of the season and getting to truly evaluate the upcoming competitive year. We just finished two weeks of challenging training prior to getting on the bus to travel to Northern Illinois University. One thing I knew was that we were more prepared than last year.
We began the meet on bars. Craig has worked really hard on hitting our handstands and strong landings. Jholeen Ponce started us off with a great set, including her giant full- tchachev combination and a double layout dismount. While Megan Chronister had a large step on her landing, she did a great job with her routine. Unfortunately, Michelle Luchini fell at the end of her set but Kasey Fillmore quickly got us back on track. Amber Brewer followed Kasey with a beautiful hop full-giant full combination and then Breanne Guy finished the line up with a huge geinger and a nice double layout dismount for a 9.725. I was particularly proud to see Kasey and Amber back in action after sitting out with injuries last season. It was a great start and we look forward to improving on the small details at upcoming meets.
Next, we went to vault. Our warm up was a bit shaky but we reminded the team that mental preparation far out weighs the warm up. Lexi Psichopaidas started us off with a solid vault followed by a very excited Queenita Gamble after landing her new vault. Dawn Christman started her collegiate career well with a 9.75 on her yurchenko layout half. Jenna Wirtanen missed her vault but Andrea Kinzer stepped up and scored a 9.8 on her yurchenko layout full. Breanne Guy, performing the same vault as Andrea, nailed it with a 9.875. Vault is going to be a great event for us this season.
Floor was an area that I felt we were the least prepared after a few minor injuries in the last couple of weeks. While five athletes did complete their routines with no falls, we had a number of missed combinations that really hurt our start values. Breanne Guy was a bright spot for us with a solid 9.775. This is definitely the event where we can make up the most ground in the next week.
Lastly, we moved to beam. Balance beam is an area of great depth for our team. The nerves seemed to get the best of Dawn Christman but Jholeen Ponce quickly got us back on track. Kasey Fillmore really impressed the judges with her front aerial- one-arm front handspring series and scored the highest beam score of the evening, a 9.75. Megan Chronister missed her series but Breanne Guy and Queenita Gamble concluded the evening with solid routines. Beam is well ahead from last year so I am really looking forward to our upcoming beam performances.
Overall, we finished second to Northern Illinois with a score of 191.875. While we were hoping for a win, our overall score was a victory in itself. This is the best starting score for the Falcons since the 2003-2004 season and well ahead of our starting score last year. The upcoming week will be filled with hard work, a bit of line up tweaking and more mental training. We will be ready to get our first win of the season at home against Ball State on Sunday! See you at the meet. Roll Along.
