BGSU gymnastics (2-8) (0-5) traveled to the City of Brotherly Love and came away with a 195.125 – 191.575 loss to Temple (7-12) (3-5).
The Owls won on their Senior Night to end a two-game losing streak. The Owls’ win also broke a 2-2 all-time tie between the two gymnastics programs’ history.
The Falcons are now 0-5 in dual meets this season. The 3.55-point deficit against Temple was the largest of any dual meet this season and the second-largest total deficit of the year; only behind the four-point quad meet loss to Towson.
Vault
The Owls won the vault event by a slim 0.40 margin, 48.775 to 48.375. Temple’s sophomore duo of Kyrstin Johnson and Hannah Weklar tied for first, each scoring a 9.800. The score was a personal best for Johnson.
Sophomore Megan Dzialo came in fourth place and was Bowling Green’s top vaulter with a score of 9.725.
Uneven Bars
The uneven bars were once again detrimental to Bowling Green’s chances of winning the meet. Temple scored 48.875 points on the event, their highest score on any event all night, whereas Bowling Green scored a meet-low 46.750.
Temple sophomores Hannah Weklar and Mariella Brueck won the event, each scoring a 9.825. The routine was a personal best for Brueck.
After two previous subpar performances at the bars, Falcon freshman Kayla Shaw led the team with 9.725 points. She finished in fourth place overall.
Balance Beam
Although the Falcons did well on the beam, Temple won the event 48.750 to 47.575. Temple senior Madison Dorunda won the event with a career-high score of 9.875.
Two of the best Falcons this season on the beam, freshman duo Kayla Shaw and Emily Gianfrancesco, each scored under nine points in the event.
Luckily for Bowling Green, star junior all-around gymnast Megan Bingham scored a 9.775 to earn second place.
Floor Exercise
The Orange & Brown barely avoided getting swept by winning the floor exercise 48.875 to 48.725.
Kayla Shaw bounced back from her poor balance beam performance by earning a 9.850 on the floor, tying her for first place with Temple graduate student Brooke Donabedian. The routine was Shaw’s first collegiate career first-place finish.
Top Gymnasts
As aforementioned, Kayla Shaw did very well for Bowling Green, tying for first place on the floor as well as leading the team on the uneven bars.
Hannah Weklar tied for first in both the vault and uneven bars for Temple and was a huge reason for their victory.
Overall, Bowling Green didn’t have too bad of a meet. The problem was that Temple simply had their best meet of the season. Three out of the six Owl gymnasts that won events did so under a personal best score.
Bowling Green will travel to Normal, Ill. next Friday night to face Illinois State, Central Michigan and Centenary College in a quad meet. The Falcons are 0-1 against 35th-ranked Illinois State, 0-2 against Central Michigan and have yet to play Centenary College.
