Gymnasts set records in upset win

On Feb. 18, 1984, Ronald Reagan was a first term president, Janet Jackson was keeping clothed… On Feb. 18, 1984, Ronald Reagan was a first term president, Janet Jackson was keeping clothed on “Diff’rent Strokes,” and Pitt football was still trying to get over the loss of Dan Marino.

That day was also the only time Pitt had ever beaten Penn State in women’s gymnastics – until last Saturday.

Just a hair more than 20 years later, the Pitt gymnastics team dug deep to muster a senior night performance for the ages, compiling the highest score in team history en route to a 196.35-195.80 win over the No. 21-ranked Nittany Lions. The previous team high for the Panthers was 195.925, scored on Mar. 4, 2000.

After a near-perfect floor exercise by Alyse Zeffiro – one that turned out to be her fourth 9.95 of the season on floor – a jubilant Pitt team (8-4-1) mobbed Zeffiro on the floor, not to congratulate her on her stellar performance, but rather to savor the upset of ranked Penn State squad (6-4-1) as a team.

“I just gave it my all,” a teary-eyed Zeffiro said of her routine, which brought much of the standing-room-only crowd at Fitzgerald Field House to its feet, “but in my heart, I felt it was a 10.”

And Zeffiro wasn’t the only one who felt that way afterward.

“That should’ve been a 10, it was a 10 to me, and if we’re anywhere else, at Michigan State, at West Virginia or at Towson, that probably gets a 10, but you know what, it wasn’t a perfect routine, [but] it was the perfect routine for this night,” an equally teary-eyed head coach Debbie Yohman said after the match.

Zeffiro’s floor performance seemed to be inspired by a bit of one-upmanship, as teammate Erika Goldberg, performing immediately before in the penultimate routine of the meet, had just become the first Pitt gymnast other than Zeffiro to score a school-record tying 9.95 on floor.

“I knew I had a good routine,” Goldberg said, who was visibly grinning after her first pass. “But I still had that last pass, so I needed to keep focused.”

On this night of records, Diandra O’Connor followed suit when she registered a career-high score in the all-around competition with a 39.25, the fifth best individual score in school history.

But when asked about her personal record, O’Connor simply said, “Every week I try to hit on my routines, but I’ve got no control over the scores.”

As for the team competition, the final rotation on the floor yielded a school-record shattering 49.425 – beating the old mark of 49.0 by nearly a half a point. The overall score was in Pitt’s favor from the first rotation, when the Panthers recorded a 49.0 on vault, led by a jubilant April Pearson, who tied a personal best with a 9.85.

At the same time, the Lions fell apart early, with falls on the uneven bars, first by Stephanie Sullivan, followed by a thunderous crash into the ground by Lisa Clark, who, at 5’7″, stands like a tower by gymnastics standards. Clark would redeem herself with two 9.9 scores later, but her fall on the bars caused Sullivan’s 9.175 to enter into Penn State’s team score, providing Pitt with its eventual margin of victory.

“It’s really indescribable, but this shouldn’t be unexpected,” said Yohman on the victory and record performance. “We knew we had it in us, but it takes a lot of courage to move up to the next level, and we finally did tonight.”