Gymnastics drops two to a pair of ranked foes

In her first collegiate meet, freshman Kaitlin Harrison came up big for the Panthers’… In her first collegiate meet, freshman Kaitlin Harrison came up big for the Panthers’ gymnastics team, but it wasn’t enough to edge out either No. 19 Penn State or No. 18 Illinois.

Despite Harrison’s all-around score of 37.95, Pitt dropped its first two decisions of the season at Penn State University Saturday night. The Nittany Lions (3-4) racked up a total of 194.125 points for first place, while Illinois (3-1), victim of its first defeat of the year, scored 193.2 team points for second place, leaving Pitt (0-2) in third, with a score of 188.2 points.

“It was a rough start,” head coach Debbie Yohman said. “It was not a good first meet.”

Last season, Pitt pulled out an upset win over Penn State, defeating the Nittany Lions for the first time in 20 years, gaining a school record 196.35 points in the process. This was the first meeting between the Panthers and Illinois since the 2002 season.

Pitt has a very young team this season, with only two seniors on the roster and, just as Yohman predicted, the Panthers will have to fight through some tough experiences before they grow, both as a team and as individual athletes.

“We have a lot of potential. I expected us to start the season off slow, and we did,” Yohman said.

Competing with Harrison in all four events for the Panthers was sophomore Andrea Arlotta, who scored 37.025 points. Arlotta tied for second place on the vault with a score of 9.8 and placed fifth in the floor exercise with a score of 9.7.

Panther senior co-captain Leila Tait tied for seventh on the uneven bars with a 9.7, while freshman Amanda Rushton finished inside the top 10 on the vault, scoring an identical 9.7.

Nittany Lion freshman Lindsay Borkan finished second in the all-around with a score of 38.500, while Penn State junior Meredith Hoover placed third with a 38.450. Lauren Newcomb led the way for Illinois, taking home the all-around title with a 38.675.

Yohman pointed to the mix of her squad’s youth and its veteran leadership as necessities if the Panthers are to improve.

“If our veterans do what we expect them to do, and our freshmen do what we recruited them to do, we’ll continue to improve each week,” Yohman said.

This Saturday, Pitt will open its home schedule against East Atlantic Gymnastics League rival West Virginia at 7 p.m. The following Saturday, Jan. 29, Pitt will host New Hampshire in the first-ever “BEAUTY and the BEAST” match, where both the Pitt gymnastics and wrestling teams will compete at the same time at the Fitzgerald Field House starting at 1 p.m.