Gymnasts stumble at NC State

Pitt gymnastics has had some tough competition lately, but it has continued to hold its own…. Pitt gymnastics has had some tough competition lately, but it has continued to hold its own.

On Friday, the Panthers (8-9, 4-3 EAGL) faced North Carolina State at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, scoring a 192.925. The Wolfpack (13-11, 5-3 EAGL), ranked No. 24, won with a score of 195.9.

Only one Panther won an event -senior Andrea Arlotta scored a 9.85 for first place on the uneven bars. Arlotta has won the event five times this season NC State won the uneven bars 48.85-47.775

Sophomore Alix Croop scored a 9.65 coming in eighth place, and freshman Jessica Byich scored a 9.625 for ninth.

Arlotta also placed third in the all-around competition with a score of 38.9. Freshman Dani Bryan had another high scoring week, tallying a 37.725 in the all-around competition, earning fifth place.

Individual Panthers scored well in their other events, and Pitt head coach Debbie Yohman was happy with the results, especially with the final event: the balance beam.

“We finished up very nicely,” Yohman said. “Our whole beam squad did an excellent job. It’s tough enough to finish on beam, and when you’ve had some mistakes that you’re trying to distance yourself from or try to come back from it’s even more difficult, but our beam squad did a tremendous job.

“One through seven, you couldn’t have asked for more. In particular Anya Chayka, each week she keeps getting better and better.”

Beam is the only event the Panthers haven’t been able to take since their February quad meet at Rutgers, but this week the final score was a season high 48.525 to the Wolfpacks’ 48.65.

Chayka, a sophomore, scored a 9.825 and came in second place on the beam. Junior Samantha Debone came in fourth with a 9.775, and sophomore Andrea Konesky finished seventh with a score of 9.675.

Vault was another close event. The Panthers scored 48.675 to NC State’s 49.1, with Bryan leading the Panthers with a score of 9.8 for fourth. Byich followed close behind, tying freshman Shannon McConnell and NC State’s Heather Zolton with a score of 9.75, for sixth place. Byich has been out of the vault competition recently because of injuries.

Arlotta and McConnell led Pitt in the floor competition with a score of 9.725 for sixth place. Senior Jessica Garber followed in eighth with a score of 9.65.

Only five Panthers participated on the floor because because of injuries. Yohman said Pitt still needs to get gymnasts strong enough before they perform in that lineup, and that should boost their usually higher scores there.

“I think there was a problem spot on the floor that we did not see in warm-up,” she said. “They were little problems, but it still wasn’t our best floor performance.”

The final score in the floor event was NC State 49.3, Pitt 47.95.

The last stop on the road for the Panthers before the EAGL championships is another southern road trip to Oklahoma State, ranked ninth in the country. Yohman is looking forward to the challenge.

“We’ve done a good job the last few weeks,” she said. “There’s not really a defense in gymnastics so it’s not like we can go out and try to do something to the other team to beat them. It just gives our kids an opportunity to go out on the floor with some very good gymnasts, some very good teams and learn how to perform their best without worrying about other people.

“This is just one more opportunity to go out there and compete without being intimidated and without being careful. To really just throw caution to the wind and be very aggressive seeing how well we can come out. The goal is to come out with a great team score and a great performance and get a little more confidence going into the EAGLs.”

The next meet is set for Saturday at 7 p.m.