Falcons Head To Maryland For Triangular

BGSU (5-4) AT MARYLAND (4-3) WITH YALE (1-3)
Date	Feb. 15, 2014
Time	2:00 PM
Location	College Park, Md. \| Comcast Center
Coverage	Live Video
Additional Information	Twitter \| Facebook \| Performance List

Bowling Green, Ohio – Coming off their first conference loss, the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team heads to Maryland Saturday to take on Maryland and Yale in a triangular meet at 2 pm. The Falcons are coming off their best score in nine years, scoring a 195.550 against No. 19 ranked Central Michigan. The Falcons have scored above 194.000 in four consecutive meets, which the club has not accomplished since 2004.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Links to live stats and live video (as available) can be found at BGSUFalcons.com for each meet. Fans can follow the BGSU Gymnastics team through Twitter on the official team account @FalconGymn and through the official account of the Athletics Department @BGAthletics.

SHAPING UP THE MAC
The Falcons are off to a 5-4 start this season with a 3-1 conference record. As expected in the preseason polls, BGSU is one of three teams that have distinguished themselves at the top of the league standings along with No. 25 Kent State and No. 19 Central Michigan. Kent State improved to 3-0 in the conference with their victory over Northern Illinois last weekend, who fell to 2-1 in the MAC. Central Michigan is now 3-0 after posting their best team score at a regular season away meet in program history last weekend against the Falcons. Eastern Michigan fell to 0-3 in conference following their meet with Central Michigan last Friday, while Western Michigan topped Ball State last weekend for their first conference win.

ABOUT MARYLAND
The Terrapins are 4-3 this season and 3-2 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL). They are coming off a win against George Washington, Pittsburgh, and Towson in a quad meet that took place last Monday at Maryland. The Terps hit season-high team marks in three events Monday and scored a 195.225 team score, their highest of the season. Maryland is ranked No. 45 overall this season according to troester.com.

ABOUT YALE
The Bulldogs gymnastics team posted their highest score of the season last week in their loss to the New Hampshire Wildcats with a 188.700. The Bulldogs are 1-3 this season and are currently ranked No. 66 according to troester.com. Sophomore Camilla Opperman was the Bulldog's top finisher on floor exercise and vault last week against the Wildcats, posting two personal-best scores. She earned a 9.725 on floor, which was good for sixth place. Behind her in eighth place were teammates Katherine Lucas with a 9.425 and Tabitha Tay with a 9.400 in ninth place.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
After a strong weekend of competition, Bowling Green has climbed to No. 35 in the country, according to troester.com. The top 36 teams in the country advance to NCAA Regionals and the Falcons are in position to accomplish that goal.

FALCONS IN THE RANKINGS
As Bowling Green continues to show improvement within the program, the Falcons continue to receive higher rankings individually and as a team. Four Falcons rank in the top 100 in the country in the all-around, led by Alyssa Nocella at No. 71. As a team, the Falcons are currently at No. 35 nationally (out of 81 teams) and have leaned on the 27th best floor routines in Division I. Listed below are all BGSU individuals ranked in the top 100 in the country in an event:

Vault – 84. Lauren Feely
Floor – 97. Megan Harrington
All-Around – 70. Alyssa Nocella, 86. Megan Harrington, 91. Lauren Feely, 92. Gina Locigno

LAST TIME OUT
Bowling Green faced their first conference lost last week in their meet against Central Michigan. The Falcons are now 3-1 in MAC play and 5-4 overall this season. The Falcons posted their best team score in nine years against Central Michigan with an overall score of 195.550. The Falcons also broke 49.000 in three events with season bests coming in on the vault, balance beam and floor exercise. Gina Locigno scored a career-best all-around score of 39.175 which was good for second place, while Alyssa Nocella scored a 39.125 and Megan Harrington scored a 39.075 in the all-around.

FACING THE BEST
BGSU Head Coach Kerrie Turner has bulked up the non-conference schedule and the Falcons are facing numerous ranked teams outside of the MAC. In the season opener, Bowling Green competed in a triangular against then-No. 12 Oregon State (now No. 13) and then-No. 19 Ohio State (now No. 20). During the past weekend, BGSU faced then-No. 18 Boise State (now No. 16) in Chicago and No. 19 Central Michigan in venerable Anderson Arena Sunday. No. 9 UCLA and No. 25 Kent State are still left to be faced on the schedule.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN
Bowling Green went 5-11 a year ago so a victory this weekend would surpass last year's win total. The Falcons have not posted six wins in a season since the 2008 team went 9-12. A victory over Maryland would be the team's second win this year over a program from the East Atlantic Gymnastics League.

THE ROOKIES
BGSU freshmen Lauren Feely and Rachel Reis have begun to come into their own. Lauren Feely scored a meet-high 9.875 last weekend against Central Michigan on vault. In the team's home opener against Eastern Michigan, Feely established her collegiate best all-around score with a 38.750. Reis won the uneven bars at the meet with a 9.750. Following up that meet, Feely won her first career all-around with an identical 38.750 score at Ball State. Reis added another 9.750 on bars.

HARRINGTON NAMED GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
BGSU senior Megan Harrington was named MAC Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 10 following a career-best 39.100 in the all-around last weekend at the Chicago meet. Harrington also posted an all-around score of 39.075 just two days later at Central Michigan. Both scores were good for second place at both meets. Harrington also scored season-highs in the vault with a 9.800 as well as on the bars with a 9.725 in weekend's first meet in Chicago. Harrington then went on to score a career-best on beam with a 9.850, while tying her bars score of 9.725 in the meet against CMU. She posted at least a 9.675 in all eight rotations on the weekend.

NOCELLA NAMED GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
BGSU sophomore Alyssa Nocella was named MAC Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 28 after scoring a career-best 39.150 in the all-around and leading BGSU to its second-highest team score since 2005 in a win over Eastern Michigan. Nocella posted at least a 9.725 on all four apparatuses, tying her career-best with a 9.775 on vault.

LIEVENDAG HONORED BY MAC
Junior Amanda Lievendag was named the Mid-American Conference's Specialist of the Week Jan. 14 after posting a meet-best 9.875 on the uneven bars against No. 12 Oregon State and No. 19 Ohio State. She also tied for fifth on the vault with a 9.775. It is the second time Lievendag has earned the award in her career.

PRESEASON POLL
BGSU was picked to finish third in the MAC Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's coaches. The Falcons finished third during the regular season a year ago and fifth at the MAC Championship. Defending MAC Champion Kent State was picked to repeat, followed by Central Michigan. Following BGSU, Northern Illinois was selected fourth and Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Ball State round out the preseason standings.

SOLID FOUNDATION
BGSU Head Coach Kerrie Turner was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2013 with good reason. She has pushed the program forward after the team went 0-6 in the MAC in 2011. The 2012 team improved incrementally to 1-5 and the 2013 squad moved to 3-3. The Falcons return most of their contributors from a year ago, as well as adding a strong freshman class, and have begun the season 2-0 in MAC play.

THE MAC CHAMPS ARE BACK
BGSU is the only school in the MAC to return a pair of individual champions from a year ago in junior Jamilah Ali and sophomore Alyssa Nocella. Ali won the vault a year ago and Nocella claimed the balance beam title. The duo represent just the second and third MAC individual champions under Turner, who began her head coaching tenure at BGSU in 2008.

FIVE ADDED FOR 2014
Earlier this fall, BGSU announced five additions to the gymnastics program for the 2015 season. Morgan Denlinger (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield HS/Prestige Gymnastics Club), Taylor Livingston (Hartland, Mich./Hartland HS/Geddert's Twisters Gymnastics Club), Shannon Goniwiecha (Rochester Hills, Mich./Stoney Creek HS/Oakland Gymnastics), Kylie Bosco (Illinois Gymnastics Institute) and McKenna Schoenberger (Maple City Gymnastics) will all join the program next year.

HALL OF FAME
BGSU gymnastics alumnus Marny Oestreng was inducted into the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame over the summer. Oestreng, a 2002 BGSU graduate, won the 1999 NCAA Championship in the floor exercise. Her school- and career-best score in the all-around while at BG was 39.600, and she also posted the program's best-ever scores in the floor exercise (9.975), uneven bars (9.950), vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.925).

SCHOLASTIC ALL-AMERICANS
In August, five Falcons were named Scholastic All-Americans by the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches for Women (NACGC). Student-athletes must have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher to be honored. Senior Megan Harrington and sophomore Caroline Ellingboe and Alyssa Nocella, along with graduates Monica Eaton and Sunny Marchand (who is now an assistant coach with the team), received the recognition.

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