Falcon gymnastics took third in a tri-meet Friday evening with a final score of 189.500. No. 15 Oregon State and Alaska Anchorage topped the Falcons with scores of 195.825 and 193.450, respectively. BGSU had to make some lineup changes prior to their trip to Oregon and did not have their full depth for the competition. Despite the loss, junior Jovannah East continued to make strides and tied the program record while the team posted a season-best score on vault.
The Falcons began on bars and earned a team score of 46.400. This set them behind both Oregon State and Alaska Anchorage in the first rotation, who posted a 49.075 on vault and a 48.575 on floor. For the Falcons, senior Leslie Delgado posted a 9.600. This is the eighth of nine meets in which she has posted at least a 9.6 on the uneven bars.
In the second rotation, the Falcons struggled on beam with a couple of competitors below the 9.0 mark. East led BGSU with a 9.8. The event dropped the Falcons nearly five points behind the competition.
“The team had some challenges at our competition, particularly on beam. We had many uncharacteristic mistakes,” Coach Turner said of the meet.
East also led BGSU on the floor exercise with a 9.9. All six Falcons scored above 9.225, but Oregon State’s competitors bottomed out at a 9.750 and Alaska’s at 9.575. A deduction for the Falcon’s extended the non-conference opponents leads.
Refocusing for the final rotation on vault, BGSU was able to scratch the surface of two program records. The Falcons finished strong with a season-best 49.075 – barely missing the program record of 49.125. East posted a career-best and became the second Falcon in history to achieve a 9.950 on vault. She marks her name in the record books again next to former Falcon gymnast Marny Oestreng, who was a national champion at BGSU. Five of the six BGSU vault competitors posted scores above 9.750, including Katie Morsefield, Taylor Worthington, Elena Lawson, Laura DeMeno and East.
East took first place in the all-around, with three of her four scores above 9.8. Her final score, 39.175, was her second-highest of the season. Although BGSU rallied in the final event on vault, the earlier challenges of the meet left them in third place. Their overall record drops to 1-13, but the Falcons have two competitions to go in their 2019 stretch.
Coach Turner is proud of the focus and character of her squad, and the team continues to hope for improvement in their last two meets of the regular season.
“This week, we need to get back into the gym and train efficiently. We can make a drastic improvement in one week and I know the team wants to get to work to make that happen,” Coach Turner said about the team moving forward.
The Falcons travel to Ohio State on Saturday, March 9 for their next meet. They return home to Anderson Arena on Friday, March 15 to face Western Michigan for Senior Night.
