Over spring break, Pitt’s gymnastics team lost two meets and two competitors to injuries…. Over spring break, Pitt’s gymnastics team lost two meets and two competitors to injuries.

Now, with only one meet and the EAGL championships left in the season, Pitt (1-12) is looking to improve its record by staying on the apparatuses.

“I told the girls, skill-wise, talent-wise or team-wise, a lot of the teams we’re facing are not that much better than us,” Pitt coach Debbie Yohman said. “But they’re hitting. One fall can take you out of it, and it’s very important that we get rid of that.”

In a tri-meet on March 9, the Panthers faced No. 14 Denver and Texas Woman’s University. Denver won the meet with a 195.95, Texas Woman’s came in second with 194.05, and Pitt trailed with a 191.675.

The team also trailed in all four events, coming in third each time.

Just before the meet, sophomore Dani Bryan tore her Achilles heel in warm-ups and was unable to compete.

Bryan, the reigning EAGL vault champion, will most likely be out until the fall.

The other missing team member was sophomore Shannon McConnell, who was injured in the previous meet and did not travel to Denver.

“We’re having to ask people to step up,” Yohman said. “They’re more important for us in that line-up now than maybe they were when we had six or seven people.”

With only five competitors on the beginning event, the bars, the Panthers still managed a season-high 47.6.

Their highest-scoring event of the meet was the floor where they earned a season-high 48.275.

Senior Sammi DeBone got her season high on the beam, a 9.825 and the Panthers notched a 47.775.

On the vault, the Panthers again counted all five scores and notched a 48.025.

“It was a good score for us, not our best,” Yohman said. “The kids were very upset. It hurts, but we’re just doing what we can do.” Junior Alix Croop led the team on the bars and in the floor exercise with a 9.75 and 9.8, respectively.

The Panthers then traveled to Maryland for a quad meet Saturday against the Terrapins, Michigan and Temple.

Pitt placed third with a 191.6 after Michigan’s winning 196.15 and Maryland’s 194.25. Temple trailed with a 190.025.

McConnell traveled with the team but, again, did not compete because of her injury.

“She thought she could do it, but we thought it was more important to save her for this weekend and, more importantly, for EAGLs,” Yohman said.

The team began on beam and went 7 for 7.

“We couldn’t have been happier,” Yohman said.

On bars, the last event, the team beat its previous week’s season-high and set a new season record of 48.175 with Croop again leading the way with a 9.775.

Croop also tied her career-high 9.75 on the beam.

It was the first time all season the Panthers counted no falls on the uneven parallel bars.

“It was a great way to start and end the meet,” Yohman said.

On floor and vault, where the team was suffering from a shortage of competitors, Pitt notched a 47.425 and 47.375, respectively, beating only Temple’s 47.225 in the vault competition.

Two gymnasts had personal triumphs in meet. Freshman Molly Moyer earned a career-high 9.725 on the beam, and sophomore Krista Rubini notched a career-high 9.7 on the floor.

The Panthers will host their last home meet this weekend against North Carolina, Cornell and Temple before traveling to Morgantown, W. Va., for the EAGL Championships.

“If we want to do well at EAGL we have to hit 24 for 24,” Yohman said. “Our goals haven’t changed. We still want to hit. We still want to do well at EAGLs.”