Battle For The Buckeye State: Falcons, Ohio State Set To Meet Saturday

BGSU TO FACE TOP 25 TEAM FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEKEND
The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team returns to Ohio to compete at No. 22 Ohio State Saturday at 4:00 pm in St. John Arena. It marks the second weekend in a row in which the Falcons will square off against a top 25 team as BGSU competed at No. 15 Oregon State Friday. The meet will be streamed on BTN+.

FULL MEET NOTES
BTN+ BROADCAST (Subscription Required)
LIVE RESULTS

THE ALL-TIME HISTORY
Ohio State is 30-7 all-time against Bowling Green and has won 13 straight meetings since Bowling Green won in 2002. The Buckeyes have won four straight at home since the Falcons posted a victory in 2000. Most recently, BGSU scored 195.400 at home against Ohio State a year ago, but the Buckeyes picked up the win with a 196.125.

VAULTING TOWARDS SUCCESS
BGSU is currently ranked No. 27 in the country on vault, second-best in the MAC. Last weekend at Oregon State, the Falcons set a new season-best with a 49.075, just shy of the school record 49.125. The Falcons have been consistently strong, scoring at least 48.525 each time out and going over 49.000 three times. Jovannah East leads the MAC, with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 9.850 and an average score of 9.825. Lauren DeMeno has an NQS of 9.800 and Taylor Worthington is at 9.785. Those three rank among the top six in the conference.

JOVANNAH EAST GOING WHERE FEW HAVE GONE BEFORE
As a sophomore a year ago, Jovannah East became just the second Falcon gymnast to qualify for the NCAA Division I National Championships and the first to do so in the all-around competition. Her 39.250 score in Columbus was the greatest all-around performance ever by a BGSU gymnast in a regional meet, tying for fourth place. She scored identical scores of 9.850 on beam and floor, added 9.825 on vault and had a 9.725 on bars. She won the tiebreaker and advanced to the national championships.

HISTORICALLY GREAT
Bowling Green has placed in the top three at the MAC Championships in each of the past three seasons, peaking with a runner-up finish in 2017. For the Falcons, it is the first time the team has placed that high in three consecutive years since doing so for eight straight years from 1981-88.

LOOKING TOWARDS REGIONALS
Bowling Green will look towards regionals with an eye on individual qualifications in 2019. In each event, the gymnasts with the top four Regional Qualifying Scores (RQS) among non-qualifying teams (all teams outside the top 36) will qualify for regional competition. In the all-around, 12 gymnasts among non-qualifying teams will advance individually. Jovannah East has not competed in the all-around enough times yet to have an RQS, but would rank eighth by average score.

MAKING SIGNIFICANT STRIDES
A handful of Falcons have made strides in 2019.

Junior Lexi Augustine is averaging a 9.811 on floor after posting 9.731 a year ago.
Junior Jovannah East has improved her beam score from 9.765 in 2018 to 9.838 this year.
Senior Lauren DeMeno has scored an average of 9.772 on vault in 2019 after averaging a 9.770 last year.
Junior Jovannah East has scored 9.833 on balance beam this year after a 9.765 in 2018.
Sophomore Elena Lawson competed on just vault a year ago, averaging 9.529. She has improved to a 9.744 this year. She's also added regular competition on bars and floor.
Katie Morsefield is scoring 9.731 on vault this year after 9.668 a year ago. She has added the floor exercise to her repertoire, averaging 9.746 on the event.
Taylor Worthington missed the entire 2018 season due to injury but has rebounded even better than ever. She's scoring a 9.775 on vault (compared to 9.704 in 2017) and a 9.625 on beam, up from 9.615 in 2017.

EAST'S OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Jovannah East became the first Falcon to advance to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships since Marny Oestreng reached nationals in 1999 on the floor. Oestreng went on to win the national championship with a 9.925. East's career accomplishments include the following:

Two-time First Team All-MAC (2017, 2018)
Academic All-MAC (2018)
MAC Vault Co-Champion (2018)
MAC All-Tournament Team (2017, 2018)
NCAA Regionals Qualifier (2017, 2018)
NCAA Nationals Qualifier (2018)
MAC Gymnast of the Week (2x in 2018, 2x in 2019)
MAC Specialist of the Week (2017)

B'EAST MODE
Jovannah East continues to pace the MAC. Her 9.850 Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) on vault ranks No. 1 in the conference, as does her 9.895 on floor. She also has moved into a tie for first on balance beam at 9.850. East has been named MAC Gymnast of the Week twice this year.

FROM HEAD COACH KERRIE TURNER
"I am looking forward to the meet tomorrow. Our line-ups are back to full strength and I feel our team is focused and ready to compete. Our goal is to have a clean meet, not counting any falls in our team score. The team is strong and they know they have more to accomplish this season. We continue to focus on quality routines and details in training and we plan to show that on the competition floor tomorrow."

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