Panthers finish in fourth place, behind champion WVU

Going into the final rotation of the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championship on Saturday,… Going into the final rotation of the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championship on Saturday, Pitt needed a score of 49.625 to take the lead over West Virginia University, who was sitting in first place with a final score of 197.050.

But the Panthers were not watching the score.

“All we knew was that we were having a good meet and we had to continue having a good meet,” head coach Debbie Yohman said.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, their last event was the balance beam, where the average score put up by the other seven competing teams was 48.250.

Alyse Zeffiro recorded the highest score on the beam for the Panthers with a 9.825, but Pitt went on to finish in fourth place with a total score of 196.050 — one point behind the tournament winner West Virginia.

“We knew it was going to be very competitive,” Yohman said. “We knew every tenth [of a point] would count in the end.”

The Panthers’ scores on the vault and the floor competition were what kept them right on West Virginia’s tail.

Pitt’s Erika Goldberg scored a 9.900 on her floor routine as she stuck every landing. Diandra O’Connor, Roslyn Singleton and Jessica Garber all posted a 9.850 on their floor routines to give Pitt a score of 49.275 in the event.

On the vault, Zeffiro, who earned the EAGL’s Most Outstanding Senior Athlete Award, posted the highest score recorded on the vault in the tournament. She landed perfectly, barely flinching, and ran to her team to give them high-fives as judges gave her a near-perfect score of 9.950.

April Pearson also stuck her landing on the vault to receive a 9.875.O’Connor’s all-around score was 39.300, with her highest score of 9.875 coming on the uneven bars.

University of North Carolina’s Courtney Bumpers posted the highest all-around score. The EAGL Gymnast of the Year awed the crowd at the Petersen Events Center with her perfect score of 10.000 on the floor routine.

She wooed the judges with a run across the floor that involved several flips and when she was at the point where most gymnasts stick their landing in corner, she completely reversed her direction and flipped back towards the middle of the floor. Bumpers perfect score led her to recording a 39.575 for the tournament.

West Virginia was led by freshman Janae Cox and Jessica Bartgis who both posted all-around scores that were in the top four in the tournament. Both girls scored 9.950 on the vault competition. Cox, who earned EAGL Rookie of the Year honors, posted another 9.950 with her floor routine.

North Carolina State finished in third place with an overall score of 196.600, with its leading scorer being Kylah Bachman, who recorded an all-around score of 39.425.

Teams that finished behind Pitt include University of Maryland with 196.025, University of New Hampshire with 195.950, Towson University with 194.650 and Rutgers University with 192.475 respectively.

The seniors for all eight teams were recognized at the end of the tournament during the trophy presentation, as this was their last EAGL competition.

“My seniors did a tremendous job,” Yohman said.

Yohman went on to describe her seniors’ great leadership skills and how they will be missed next season.