Despite setting two records, Panthers fall to Buckeyes

Records were broken, milestones were surpassed, and Pitt still lost.

On Sunday, the Pitt… Records were broken, milestones were surpassed, and Pitt still lost.

On Sunday, the Pitt gymnastics team set school records on the vault and the balance beam, while senior Nathalie Sulpher recorded her 1,000th career point, in a 196.05-195.225 loss to Ohio State University at home.

The Panthers finished the vault with 48.9 team points. The previous record was set at 48.775.

Senior Heather Launse scored 9.85 on the vault, leading all Pitt scorers. She also tied the Panthers’ individual score record for the event.

“I just did what [assistant coach] Jared [Cassidy] told me to do and that was it,” Launse said. “He just said, ‘Kick your heels,’ and that’s what I did.”

Head coach Debbie Yohman credited the team’s record-setting performance on the vault to better landings and good timing.

“They earned those scores and we happened to get them all at the same time,” Yohman said.

On the balance beam, Pitt secured 49.125 points. The previous record was 49.1.

The Panthers recovered after an early fall by Nathalie Sulpher with five gymnasts scoring more than 9.8.

“We don’t have to collect the team at that point,” Yohman said. “The kids know that somebody can fall and the person that just went isn’t important. The next person is much more important. That goes behind you, you move on. It’s a new meet.”

Pitt spent more time honoring Sulpher than dwelling on her fall. In her second event of the day, she reached 1,000 career points.

Sulpher ended the day with a total of 1,013.775.

“Debbie told me, before the set, if I had a good meet that I would get a surprise,” Sulpher said. “So I kind of figured that, yeah, it was coming.”

She is now 12th in all-time scoring at Pitt.

Yohman expressed pride in Sulpher but said honors such as that are asides.

“I don’t focus on that kind of stuff,” Sulpher added. “I focus on my performance and see where it goes from there.”

From there, Ohio State controlled most of the meet.

The Buckeyes kept even with the Panthers on floor exercise and topped Pitt’s record-breaking scores on the vault and balance beam.

But it was on the uneven bars where Ohio made its largest gains.

Pitt trailed the Buckeyes by .45 points in the event, an amount larger than the differences of all of the other events combined.

“Just not quite 100 percent,” Yohman said of Pitt’s showing on the bars. “We’re making the routines; we’re not falling, but just not quite 100 percent.”

She added that the team will most likely do additional training in handstand work and conditioning to try and improve its bar scores.

Ohio State swept all of the first place spots in the meet and kept Pitt entirely out of the top three on the balance beam.

The Buckeyes’ Jill Weber took first place as an all-arounder with 39.35 points.

Pitt dropped to 3-6 as a result of the loss. Its East Atlantic Gymnastics League conference record was unaffected and remained 1-2.

The Panthers next meet is on the road at Central Michigan Sunday. Pitt will also face Northern Illinois in the competition.

“I’m expecting Central Michigan to be real good,” Yohman said. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”