Our House
1/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
KENT, Ohio - After a tough first meet at Pittsburgh, head coach Brice Biggin wanted his team to show the rest of the conference what Kent State gymnastics is made of in 2010. If Friday night was any indication, the conference title still runs through Kent, Ohio.
Kent State (2-1, 1-0 MAC) hit on 23 of 24 routines against Eastern Michigan (0-1, 0-1 MAC) Friday night (Jan. 22), defeating the Eagles 195.175-191.000.
"This is what we expected," Biggin said after the meet. "We have good depth and we have a good-looking team. We were looking for a little more of this last weekend but it was nice to see them step up and say 'that is not what we are last week. This is what we are all about."
As a team, the Golden Flashes won each event over the Eagles by at least an eighth of a point. Individually, junior Christina Lenny won on vault (9.850), floor (9.875) and in the all-around (39.200) while finishing third on beam (9.725) to lead the Golden Flashes. Junior Christine Abou-Mitri claimed the title on beam with a 9.825 routine while senior Lydia Barrett claimed the title on bars with a score of 9.800.
The Flashes set the tone early on vault as they won 48.900-48.075. Besides Lenny, sophomore Rachel Goldenberg and freshman Lauren Wozniak both tied for second with a score of 9.775. Abou-Mitri, senior Brittany Kopp and freshman Rachel Guida tied for fourth with vaults of 9.750.
Kent State built the lead to 1.975 after two rotations, defeating Eastern Michigan 48.400-47.700 on bars. Barrett won her second crown in as many weeks while Guida and sophomore Erin Rothrock took second, completing 9.775 routines. Lenny and freshman Stephanie Smart both finished fourth with a score of 9.750.
"Our vault was solid again but bars was nice to see. It was nice getting Erin Rothrock back into a bar routine," Biggin said.
While the Flashes recorded their lowest event score of the night on beam (48.400), Kent State expanded the lead as Eastern Michigan managed only a 47.000. While Abou-Mitri claimed her first title of the year with 9.825, Lenny took third with a season-high 9.725. Skiffington and Kopp took fourth with routines of 9.675.
"Our last four competitors on beam did a great job," Biggin said. "Carly Conroy was a little shaky and hit a routine when she needed to. Brianna Skiffington was not a surprise, but an overdue nice routine to see because that's what we know what she is capable of."
As strong as the start on vault was, floor was the exclamation point of the evening as Kent State claimed the event 49.025-48.225. Lenny matched a career-best 9.875 while Abou-Mitri, who battled with Lenny all night, closed out the competition with a floor routine of 9.825 to finish second in the all-around with a 39.125. Barrett finished third with a 9.800 judges mark.
Besides the strong performace of the gymnastics team, Biggin was proud of the energetic crowd of more than 1,300 people.
"The crowd was phenomenal. It's going to be an intimidating place for other teams to come in to," Biggin said. "We had a great crowd: they had a lot of energy and it was good to see them get involved in the meet. It's going to become a place where people don't want to come to because of the crowd." With the win, Biggin now improves his record to 17-2 in home openers as a head coach.
