Feb. 2, 2013

COMPLETE RESULTS

SEATTLE, Wash.  - Despite a first place first rotation, the No. 12 Wildcat gym team fell to the host Washington Huskies 196.025-195.200.

"We started strong, and had one difficult event. Overall though, I was happy about how the team responded even though the outcome may not have been what we wanted. I think the team did a good job of coming back with their performances tonight," head coach Bill Ryden said.

The team opened the night on bars, starting strong with a 49.075. The success on bars marked the second consecutive meet with a complete bar rotation.

"Bars was a solid start. I think tonight was our best set of six routines, I didn't have any complaints and I thought we did a good job," Ryden said.

Sophomore Allison Flores led the team off tying her season high score of 9.825. Sophomore Danielle Buchanan repeated that score, tying both Flores for the third highest score of the meet as well as her own career best on the event. Continuing the trend was senior Molly Quirk and freshman Lexi Mills, as well as senior Aubree Cristello; Quirk and Mills tied each other's scores of 9.775, and Cristello tied for second with a 9.850. Junior Jordan Williams rounded out the contributions with a score of 9.800.

After event number one, the Wildcats led the Huskies by 0.425.

That lead was lost, however, after event number two. Landing difficulties kept the Cats to a team score of 48.400, with high scores of 9.750 from sophomore Amber Wobma (third overall) and 9.700 from junior Shana Sangston.

"Vault was a very weak for us. Even though we had to substitute one of our standard vault workers, I still felt like we had a strong lineup, however we definitely underperformed tonight," Ryden commented.

The team bettered their average on floor, posting a score of 48.950. Highlights of the event came from Cristello and Klarenbach who placed second and third on the event with scores of 9.850 and 9.825, respectively.

Despite the floor effort, the Dawgs increased the lead to 0.525 going in to the final rotation.

Senior leadership shone through on the beam, as Cristello and Quirk tied for third overall with twin scores of 9.800. Other contributions came from freshman Shelby Edwards and Flores, both with scores of 9.750 as well as Wobma who posted a 9.675.

"The beam team did a good job, especially considering the gut check. We had our first girl fall which placed un-due pressure on the team. I have to give them credit for the fact that they fought until the bitter end tonight," Ryden said.

In the all-around Cristello posted a 39.100 for second place, and Flores took the bronze with a 39.025.

"Even though we hit 23 out of 24 routines tonight wasn't our best performance. From here we just need to move on and attack this on Monday. We need to erase this meet, keep moving forward and compete up to our potential from here on out," Ryden concluded.

From here the Cats travel to Chicago, Ill. to compete at Navy Pier in the annual "Chicago Style Meet" hosted by Flores' club, Illinois Gymnastics Academy. The team will face Pittsburgh, Illinois State and Texas Woman's next Friday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. CST.