Gymnastics falls despite high scores

Football and basketball aren’t the only sports where being at home is an advantage, and the… Football and basketball aren’t the only sports where being at home is an advantage, and the Pitt gymnastics team is proof of that.

Despite registering their third-best score of the season, and ninth-best score all-time, the Panthers fell on the road, 196.475-194.65, at Kent State on Friday night.

Pitt’s record drops to 7-3-1 overall, but the team is only 2-3-1 away from the cozy comforts of Fitzgerald Field House, a fact that head coach Debbie Yohman is certainly aware of.

“Kent State is always a tough place to compete … they were hitting at 100 percent, and as long as we’re scoring falls, we’re not hitting at 100 percent,” Yohman said about the match. The falls Yohman talked about cost Pitt crucial points in its team score, as did two penalties for stepping out of bounds on the floor exercise, the results of which were mandatory tenth-of-a-point deductions by the judges.

Even with the costly mistakes, Pitt recorded a high score through a series of standout individual performances. April Pearson tallied a career-high 9.85 on the vault, part of a team score of 48.900, the Panthers’ best on any apparatus.

The floor exercise also yielded solid individual scores for the Panthers, the highest being a 9.85 by Erika Goldberg and a 9.8 by Roslyn Singleton. Singleton also scored a 9.8 on the balance beam, drawing praise from her coach.

“Roslyn was very good for us. She was good on the beam; she had a good floor exercise; she was very solid,” Yohman said.

Kent State’s top individual and team performances were on the floor, as Earline Feugill registered a near-perfect 9.975, and no Golden Flashes’ gymnast scored below 9.8 on the floor, giving them a team score of 49.475.

Diandra O’Connor, one of Pitt’s most consistent performers all year, recorded three scores of more than 9.725, including a team-high 9.825 on the uneven bars, all while having had her ability to practice during the week hindered by sickness.

“Diandra’s still battling the virus she’s had, and having her in the lineup was something we just had to look at through the week,” Yohman added about her team’s senior leader.

When asked about the imminent postseason, Yohman said, “We’re going to be ready; every meet we’re improving on something. We are so close; we’re a good team, but until we hit on all 30 scores, we’re not going to have that whole point jump in the team score.”

But even with the loss, she was optimistic about the team’s outlook going into the stretch run of the season, beginning with a weekend trip to East Lansing, Mich., to face Michigan State.

“We always have a good meet when we face Michigan State; whether it’s here or there, the judging always seems to be fair, and we always perform well,” Yohman said, looking ahead to the weekend.

The match at MSU is at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and it is the team’s last match before returning home for a showdown with Penn State at the end of the month.