Gymnastics sets the bar

Three stellar freshmen recruits, two returning EAGL champions and an otherwise solid team… Three stellar freshmen recruits, two returning EAGL champions and an otherwise solid team roster might mean good things for the Pitt gymnastics team this season.

The Panthers ended their season last year 8-10 and 4-3 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League, and this year head coach Debbie Yohman wants to win the championship.

“Our goal at the end of the season is to win EAGLs,” Yohman, who is in her 22nd season at Pitt, said. “We want to start out strong. What I see is a group that’s really maturing and growing up and preparing themselves for big meets, and that’s been really great.”

Three freshmen join the team this year as all-arounders: Mallory Brewer, Molly Moyer and Shannon Vafiadou. The trio will put the number of potential all-arounders up to nine this season.

However, Yohman says the three who will concentrate on the all-around event are veteran sophomores Dani Bryan and Jess Byich and Vafiadou.

“[They are] giving us a lot more depth,” Yohman said. “We’ll have more options, particularly when it comes to the point in the season when you have injuries.”

One of last year’s all-arounders was Andrea Arlotta, who graduated in April and received numerous accolades in her Pitt career. She averaged a score of 9.806 on bar, notching two 9.9 scores, and she was named first team All-EAGL on three events and the all-around.

As a freshman last year Bryan wowed audiences on the vault where she led the Panthers with a career high 9.925 and won the league title in the event.

She and several fellow teammates all have 10-point start vaults in their lineups.

Byich’s career-high in the all-around last season was 38.425 and her highest event score was a 9.8 on the vault.

On bars, Pitt seniors Samantha DeBone and Kaitlin Harrison and junior Alix Croop will lead the Panthers. DeBone made second team All-EAGL selection on bars two years in a row. Harrison’s high last year was 9.775, which she hit twice, and Croop averaged a score of 9.633.

“On bars we don’t have very much depth at all,” Yohman said. “But we have a lot of kids who are ready to go out and make it. If we keep that small group intact, we should have a good bars.”

Last year, junior Andrea Konesky kicked off the beam’s lineup and is expected to perform well this year, as is Anya Chayka, who scored a career-high 9.825 last year against NC State, and DeBone, whose career-high on beam is 9.9.

“Beam is a make-it or break-it event,” Yohman said. “We feel we have a lot of really good talent if they’re willing to go out there and be aggressive and not be afraid.”

Chayka moved onto the floor’s lineup in the middle of last year’s season, following sophomore Shannon McConnell. Eleven performers out of the Panthers’ lineup have floor routines lined up this season.

The Panthers kicked off their season Friday with the annual Blue and Gold meet. The team divided in half and competed against itself.

On vault, Bryan triumphed with her 10-point start-vault. Moyer also attempted a 10-point vault and came in second.

Croop won the bars event followed by Byich. DeBone claimed the beam, while Konesky and Croop came in second and third. Reversing their vault positions, Moyer won the floor event, followed by Bryan. Sophomore Krista Rubini took third.

The Panthers begin their season against Kent State and Penn State at home on Friday.

“Kent State is always a tough one,” Yohman said, “but we have a payback to settle with them. We faced them last season, and they ended up on top.

“It shouldn’t matter if our opener is Penn State or a team we usually whip up on,” Yohman said. “Our goal is the same, we want to hit our routines.”

Pitt will host four other home meets in the Fitzgerald Field House, finishing with a quad meet in March.

They’ll be on the road for six other contests, finishing at the EAGL Championships in Morgantown, W. Va., in March. Pitt placed fourth in the EAGLs last season with Bryan on vault and DeBone on beam receiving first-team honors.