Gymnastics tops two

Before Saturday’s tri-meet even began, the New Hampshire and Air Force Academy gymnastics… Before Saturday’s tri-meet even began, the New Hampshire and Air Force Academy gymnastics teams had something in common – a loss to the University of Denver.

After Pitt won all four events, both teams can now say they’ve lost to the Panthers as well. The Panthers easily won the match, with the New Hampshire Wildcats coming in second and the Air Force Academy Falcons ending the day in third.

The Panthers (3-2 overall, 2-1 Eastern Atlantic Gymnastics League) were backed by standout performances from senior Andrea Arlotta, junior Samantha DeBone and freshman Dani Bryan.

“It’s what I expect from a senior, and a junior, and in what we recruited,” Pitt head coach Debbie Yohman said.

“They’re great gymnasts and great performers.”

Pitt started its night on the vault. With a personal best of 9.850, Bryan took first place in the event, and started the Panthers on the recurring theme of the night, which was winning. Arlotta was right behind her teammate with a score of 9.8, giving her second place. Sophomore Victoria McGuigan-Carl finished in fourth with a 9.7.

After the first rotation, the Panthers led with 48.3000 points.

The Panthers were on the uneven bars next, where they took the top four scores of the night.

“We got rid of the falls on bars,” Yohman said, citing one of the reasons for the command of that event.

The event was won by Arlotta, who scored a 9.8. In a tie for second with a score of 9.775 were juniors DeBone and Kaitlin Harrison, whose score tied a personal best. Sophomore Alix Croop and freshman Jessica Byich tied with Helena Diodati of New Hampshire for fourth with a 9.7.

For Byich, it was a personal best. Another Panther with a personal best on the bars was Dani Bryan, whose 9.6 was good enough to earn her eighth place.

Pitt scored a 48.750 on the bars, which was tops of all three teams. Halfway through the competition, the Panthers’ score of 97.050 points was over a full point higher than the second place team, New Hampshire, who has a 95.625. Air Force was a distant third with 91.625.

Pitt’s next event was the balance beam, where it has had some recent struggles. That was not the case this match, as the Panthers won the event and didn’t count any falls.

Coach Yohman saw improvement on the beam but noted that there is still work to be done.

“Beam is the event where if you’re cautious, you’re not confident, you’re a little scared or you’re a little nervous, it shows up the most. And that’s what has been happening to us,” she said.

“They were a little more aggressive tonight, but they didn’t quite believe yet. We worked on aggressiveness this past week, and this week we’ll work on believing.”

On the beam, DeBone and New Hampshire’s Taryn LaFountain tied for first with a score of 9.8. Sophomore Anya Chayka finished in fourth with a 9.7, and Andrea Konesky finished in eighth with a 9.55.

Pitt took another event, winning the beam with a score of 47.750 and then headed to the floor exercise for its last event.

Arlotta took top honors on the floor, winning with a score of 9.825. Two Panthers, Bryan and Shannon McConnell tied for fourth place with a 9.650. In eighth place for Pitt was senior Jessica Garber with a 9.550.

The Panthers completed a sweep of all events with an overall score on the floor of 47.975, giving Pitt its final point total for the tri-meet with 192.775 points. New Hampshire finished in second with a 190.225, and Air Force rounded out the three with 184.925 points.

Having already faced two of the nation’s top teams this year in Michigan State and West Virginia, Pitt’s schedule doesn’t ease up from here, as the Panthers continue to compete against some very talented teams.

“We have a very tough schedule this year,” Yohman said.

“We’re trying to raise the level of our performances to those teams that we want to be like, and that’s going to help us.”

The Panthers are back in action on Feb. 3, when they take on EAGL rival Rutgers in a quad meet that also includes Yale and SUNY Brockport. The meet is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Rutgers.

“When you’re up against a good team, you rise to the occasion,” she said, adding that the team will be ready to compete.