Marszalek shines, but Pitt struggles

Robyn Marszalek reached new heights this weekend at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League… Robyn Marszalek reached new heights this weekend at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships, leading the Panthers’ three all-around competitors by scoring a career-best 38.475.

The sophomore’s career night wasn’t enough to keep the Panthers out of last place, however, as Pitt came in eighth at the meet, held Friday at North Carolina State’s Reynolds Coliseum.

Marszalek used her strongest performance on the uneven bars, receiving a 9.775, and solid performances on the remaining three events — vault, balance beam and floor exercise — to help Pitt score 191.1 total team points.

Pitt had a rough start on vault, with just two gymnasts scoring 9.5 or higher. Andrea Arlotta received a team-best 9.7 from the judges, followed by freshman Nicole Drane who scored a 9.525.

“We put in some new vaults,” head coach Debbie Yohman said. “Warm-ups went very well, we definitely would’ve won warm-ups. We just didn’t get the results we wanted.”

Yohman did say that she wouldn’t have changed anything. This experience gave her young team practice on these new vaulting executions, which she hopes will prepare them for upcoming competition.

“We had some successes that we can certainly carry into regionals,” Yohman said.

The Panthers finished the first rotation three valuable tenths of a point below their season average — points that are hard to earn back at a championship level.

On the next event, Pitt started to pull things together as two competitors scored season-bests on the uneven bars. Marszalek and junior Lindsay Swan received 9.775 and 9.675, respectfully. Senior Leila Tait ranked second on the team with a 9.725.

Costly errors continued to haunt Pitt, however, as two Panthers fell in this event to once again slow down the Panthers’ momentum as they moved to their third rotation.

Pitt then went to the balance beam, one of the hardest events. Tait and freshman Samantha DeBone were the last two gymnasts to compete on beam for Pitt, and they helped the Panthers reach an event score well above their season average.

DeBone and Tait both scored a 9.75 on the beam. DeBone was just 0.025 points from her season best. As a team, the Panthers received a total of 47.925 points on this event, just three-tenths of a point from their season-best total for the beam.

“Beam is the hardest event to start a comeback on,” Yohman said. She was very proud to see her team pull together on this tough event.

Pitt saved its best performance for its last rotation: the floor exercise. Four Panther gymnasts scored a 9.7 or higher in this event. Leading the way was DeBone with a 9.775, followed by sophomore Jennifer Jones with a career-best score of 9.725.

Marszalek and Arlotta, All-EAGL honorees on the floor exercise, received identical scores of 9.7 from the judges. Freshman Kaitlin Harrison rounded off Pitt’s top five scores on the floor exercise with a 9.65.

“Everyone did very well as a team,” Yohman said about the performance of her gymnasts.

Even with Marszalek having a career day, the all-around spotlight went to the University of North Carolina’s Courtney Bumpers and West Virginia University’s Janae Cox, who tied for first place with a score of 39.475. Bumpers is a two-time EAGL all-around champion after claiming the title last year as well. She also tied the record for most EAGL wins in the EAGL Championship for the second year in a row, after winning uneven bars, floor exercise and all-around. Bumpers was also runner up on the balance beam.

North Carolina, by the strength of Bumpers, won the title with 195.975 points, followed by Maryland and West Virginia University, who tied for second place scoring 195.2 points

With the loss, the Panthers fell to 8-19 on the season and 2-13 in EAGL competition. Pitt will be back in action at the NCAA Northeast Regionals in New Hampshire on Saturday, April 9 at 6 p.m.

“We’re going to continue to work on all events in,” Yohman said about preparing for regional competition. “Our goal is to go out there and hit.”