With their highest team score since 2005, the BG gymnastics team defeated Eastern Michigan and Ball State with a score of 194.525 on Saturday’s meet in Anderson Arena.
Gina Locigno headed the lineup on vault, the first event for the Falcons. She tried a new move, the Yurchenko full twist, a roundoff-back handspring followed by a complete 360-degree twist and simultaneous flip.
Locingo fell to her knees and received a 9.175 from the judges. After falling, the entire team rushed to Locingo in support.
“Coming to college and knowing that you have these 15 girls behind you is the most amazing feeling in the world,” junior Megan Harrington said. “We are not just a team, we are family and I know that these girls have my back no matter what.”
After Locigno’s fall, the Falcons soared the remainder of the match. Sophomore Jamilah Ali scored highest on vault with a 9.875. At the end of the first round, the Falcons were ahead of the Eagles 48.575-48.500, while the Cardinals had a low-scoring 47.300.
The Falcons followed their vault with bars. Sophomore Amanda Lievendag led the team with a visually pleasing routine, moving fluently between low bar to high bar.
Each grab allowed her to gain the momentum to rotate around the bars, sticking her landing with an iconic, straight-up position.
“It was really exciting to see them put together a great night of gymnastics on all four events,” coach Kerrie Beach said. “It was really exciting to see that they scored as high as we did without a perfect meet.”
The Falcons fell behind .450 of a point to the Eagles after the second rotation of the meet, but the Falcons looked determined to reclaim the lead and scored 98.025 points on the last two events.
BG’s floor routine was the highlight of the meet, as no Falcon scored lower than 9.70. Harrington and freshman Alyssa Nocella scored back-to-back 9.90s. The entire line up had just 0.7 points deducted in the event.
Harrington set her career high all-around score the previous Saturday at the six-team meet in N.C. and followed that by setting career highs on Saturday in the beam (9.825) and floor (9.90) routines.
“It feels great coming off the last meet just because I know that it is not just a one time thing,” Harrington said. “I know that I can carry it out for the rest of the season and keep moving forward.”
Harrington has put herself on the same playing field as the best gymnasts in the NCAA by upgrading her routines and learning new skills, Beach said.
“Every single one of her events start from a 10.0, and that is what you need to do to be a great all-arounder,” Beach said. “She is a kid that loves gymnastics … she has a lot of passion and that comes out on the floor.”
Ali said that a huge comeback win like Saturday gives the team confidence.
“I want teams to come in here and be scared and say ‘Oh BG got really good,’” Ali said. “Right now, we’re the best and were going to win.”
