Gymnasts fail to qualify for National Championships

The Pitt gymnastics team’s season came to an end this weekend as zero of its four… The Pitt gymnastics team’s season came to an end this weekend as zero of its four eligible gymnasts qualified for the National Championships.

Because of their successful performances at the Eastern Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships last month, senior Dani Bryan, junior Jen Liberato, sophomore Alicia Talucci and freshman Meaghan Biros earned spots in the NCAA Regional Championships, which took place Saturday at Penn State.

Bryan, in her second appearance at the NCAA Regionals, competed on the vault in the individual competition. She scored an average of 9.775 in her four chances on the vault, including a 9.900 on her third chance in the event. Bryan’s average put her in 24th place.

Liberato finished in 27th place on the uneven bars in her first appearance at the NCAA Regionals with an average score of 9.600.

Talucci made her second appearance at the NCAA Regionals by competing in the all-around and finished with a score of 38.700. Talucci finished 26th on the vault with a 9.750, 33rd on the uneven bars with a 9.525, 25th on the balance beam with a 9.700 and 24th on the floor exercise with a 9.725.

Biros, in her first appearance at the NCAA Regionals, also competed in the all-around. Biros had a total score of 38.025 in all of the events. In the individual events, Biros scored a 9.800 for 19th on the vault, a 9.500 on the uneven bars for a 35th place finish, a 9.625 on the beam for 33rd and 9.100 on the floor for 39th.

Out of the 14 competitors in the all-around, Talucci placed sixth and Biros took 11th. With only four competitors, the Panthers placed last out of 10 teams, and the winning team, Oklahoma, had 12 gymnasts.

Biros or Talucci would have had to finish in the top two in the all-around to move on, or the Panthers would have had to place first or second in the team competition. But since no Panthers will be heading to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the NCAA National Championships, the season came to a close.

Several individuals finished the season with league awards. Talucci was named to the EAGL first team in three different events: the beam, the vault and the all-around. Biros was named to the first team selections on the vault. Junior Shannon Vafiadou was named to the second team on the vault. Bryan was named to the first team on the vault and also earned second team honors on the uneven bars and the floor exercise.

Biros also finished as the Co-EAGL Rookie of the Year.