Andrea Arlotta’s first-place finishes Saturday helped Pitt place second in its first quad meet… Andrea Arlotta’s first-place finishes Saturday helped Pitt place second in its first quad meet of the season. Rutgers, which recorded a score of 190.750, claimed first in the meet, just beating out Pitt by .250 points.

The Panthers’ score of 190.500, however, placed them ahead of Brown and SUNY Brockport, which scored 186.000 and 183.450 points respectively.

Arlotta recorded her season’s best score in overall competition with a score of 38.875. The season high was also the best overall individual score in the meet Saturday.

Arlotta placed in every event, with a first-place finish on the vault, scoring 9.725 points. Additionally, she scored a 9.8 on bars — another season high.

“She’s a great tumbler, great vaulter, very powerful kid,” head coach Debbie Yohman said.

As a team, Pitt finished first in balance beam with 47.800 points and in the floor exercise with 48.775 points.

Freshman Cassandra Minick contributed a second-place finish on beam with a career high of 9.650 points.

“She had a beautiful balance beam,” Yohman said. “It just took her awhile to get started.”

Sophomore Robyn Marszalek also achieved a career high on beam, scoring 9.625 points, good enough for third place. Arlotta tied for fifth place with 9.525 points.

“It was the best beam performance of the season,” Yohman said. “We did an absolute great job.”

The Panthers struggled in the uneven bars and vault because of injuries. Senior Leila Tait is out with a concussion, along with junior April Pearson and top vaulter Amanda Rushton, who has a sprained ankle.

Freshmen Brittney Baldwin and Samantha DeBone both placed for the injury-plagued Panthers on uneven bars. Baldwin tied for second with a 9.675, and DeBone scored 9.575 points to tie for sixth place. These both marked career-high scores for the two young gymnasts.

Yohman is still getting to know the rookie athletes better and is trying to pinpoint where each performs best and how they handle the pressures of their position in the lineup.

“Bars should be our best event,” Yohman said. “The kids we have are giving it all they have.”

On the floor exercise, sophomore Jessica Garber scored a season high of 9.800 points to tie for third place. Marszalek and Kaitlin Harrison both tied for seventh place on the floor exercise with a score of 9.525.

Pitt recorded one fall in the event, but it did not hurt the Panthers since they’re allowed to omit their lowest score in each event.

“That’s unusual for Pitt gymnastics,” Yohman said of the one fall.

Pitt travels to Ohio State Saturday to try and knock off a team that is known for its high scoring ability.

“The judges like to give out bigger scores there,” Yohman said.

The meet against Ohio State will begin at 7 p.m.