Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Falcons Soar Past Cardinals in the Battle of the Birds
January 18, 2009 | Gymnastics
Jan. 18, 2009
Complete BGSU vs. Ball State Meet Results in PDF Format 
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Head coach Kerrie Beach and the Falcons opened the 2009 home season in their new nest and home in Anderson Arena as they soared past the Ball State Cardinals (189.575-187.325) this afternoon (Jan. 18) in front of nearly 250 fans. The gymnastics squad picked up their first overall and Mid-American Conference victory of the season and handed Ball State their first overall and MAC loss of the season.
The Falcons continued their winning streak over the Cardinals as they picked up their third straight win in as many seasons. The Orange and Brown also continued their success over the Cardinals in season home openers as they have opened their home schedule five times including tonight's meet defeating them in every home opener.
"We were so excited to have our first home meet in Anderson Arena," said head coach Kerrie Beach. I was pleased with vault and bars tonight. Particularly our bar lineup did a great job and continued to step-up from our last meet. We definitely struggled on beam tonight. That's something we will be working on this week as we prepare for Illinois State. We did see some improvement on floor, but we definitely can do a little bit better there. We are looking forward to building on each opportunity every weekend to get better and stronger on every event, so hopefully we will hit all four events in our next meet."
As a team BG won three of four events (vault, bars and floor), which included three individual event wins and 14 top four finishes. Taking home events for the Falcons were Breanne Guy on the vault and in all-around, Amber Brewer on uneven bars and Andrea Kinzer on floor exercise. Guy won her second consecutive vault event on the season, while Brewer and Kinzer both recorded their first collegiate event win.
The Falcons started off the meet on vault with another strong team performance scoring a 47.775 and landing the top three scores as Guy won her second consecutive vault on the season with a score of 9.800. Right behind her with a 9.700 was senior Jenna Wirtanen sticking her landing and improving on last weekend's season opening vault. Finishing third on vault overall and for the Falcons was Kinzer posting a 9.675.
As the Orange and Brown moved onto the uneven bars they took home the top three finishes for the second straight event and recorded five of the top six finishes as Amber Brewer recorded her first collegiate event win swinging her way to a season and career high 9.750. Not far behind Brewer was Kasey Fillmore with a career high 9.725. Finishing third was Guy with a 9.650. Rounding out the top performances for the Falcons were Jholeen Ponce and Megan Chronister both recording a 9.575 in a three-way tie for fourth.
"Amber did a great job tonight, especially with her being out for two years with an ACL tear," said Beach. "To see her come back and compete right here on her own home turf and do so well is just amazing. We are so proud of her accomplishments this far."
The rotation then brought the Falcons to the balance beam where they had some struggles on the afternoon. Despite the team struggles Falcon veterans Megan Chronister and Katie Follett led the squd as they finished second and third on the event. Chronister put together a strong performance with a 9.550 for second while Follett scored a 9.500 for a third place finish.
Although the Falcons had some challenges on the beam they bounced back on floor with a team score of 47.600 improving nearly two tenths from last weekend's meet. The Falcons started out with back-to-back strong performances from their youth Kinzer and Fillmore. Kinzer set the bar high for the Falcons as she started off the event for the team with a strong performance sticking every combination for a 9.750 and her first collegiate event win. Fillmore kept up where Kinzer left off as she recorded another strong performance also sticking her combinations for a 9.725, tying for a second place finish. The Falcons were able to take four of the top five spots as Queenita Gamble finished fourth with a 9.625 and Guy finished fifth with a 9.425.
"Andrea Kinzer did a great job tonight as a freshman coming in she really nailed her vault and won floor exercise," stated Beach. "We are really proud of her and excited for what she did."
Guy finished first in the all-around for the Falcons with a 38.075 ahead of Ball State's Teresa Phipps. Guy finished in the top five in three events, including her second consecutive win on vault.
"Breanne Guy did a nice job although she struggled a little on beam, but once again our top all-arounder and won the all-around, which is great," said Beach.
The Falcons have a shortened week before their next meet as they pack their bags and take a break from MAC competition to take on Illinois State on Friday (Jan. 23) at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Falcons own the all-time series 10-6 with their last meeting taking place in 2006 where BG defeated them at home 189.100-187.500.
