Kent State University
University of Illinois - Chicago
Gymnastics Begins Season on the Road in Chicago
1/11/2019 12:09:00 PM | Gymnastics
Gymnastics Begins Season on the Road in Chicago
Kent, Ohio – Kent State will head to Chicago to begin the 2019 season and compete in the UIC Quad on Sunday, January 13 in the UIC Dorin Forum. The Golden Flashes will take on UIC, UW-Oshkosh and Centenary College in the meet.
Brice Biggin enters his 28th season as head coach for the Flashes with 13 returning gymnasts from last year's team which qualified for the NCAA Regionals for the tenth time in the last 11 years.
"We are real excited to start the season," said Biggin. "It is going to be a young team with a lot of changes from last year. We are excited to see what the new talent is going to be able to do. We feel like they have come a long way. Right now they are going to have to go out and learn how to compete in every meet."
The young Flashes, which include eight freshmen, are led by senior team captains Dara Williams and Sarah Lippowitsch, as well as junior team captain Jade Brown. Williams competed on bars and vault last season, scoring a season-high 9.800 on both events. Lippowitsch competed on bars and beam a season ago, earning a season-high 9.850 on bars against Eastern Michigan. Brown returns from an injury that kept her out of competition in 2018 but was a key member of the floor rotation ranked 17th in the country in 2017.
Sophomore Abby Fletcher also returns for the Flashes. As a freshman, Fletcher scored career-highs of 9.825 on vault, 9.875 on beam and 9.925 on floor. She won the floor title at the MAC Championships and tied for second on the floor at the NCAA Columbus Regional. Other key returners include senior Kennedy Plude, junior Sarah McCarty and sophomore Nasha Manitkul-Davis.
Last Time Out
The Flashes competed in the annual Blue-Gold exhibition on November 30 with the Blue team coming out victorious. Brown won the all-around competition with freshmen Riley Danielson and Samantha Henry finishing second and third, respectively.
On vault, Williams won the event with Henry taking second place and freshmen Cami Klein and Danielson tying for third. Brown and freshman Madison Iannuzzo tied on bars with freshman Elizabeth Fulton picking up third place.
Klein grabbed another top three finish as she won the beam with Danielson. Lippowitsch and freshman Kendra Lindway tied for second place. Brown and McCarty tied for first place on the floor, while Lindway and Henry tied for third.
Series History
Kent State is 7-6 all-time against the Flames, while they are 1-0 against both UW-Oshkosh and Centenary. This is the Flashes first time competing against UIC since 2011 and the first time traveling to UIC since 1995.
Next Up
The Golden Flashes will host George Washington in their home opener on Sunday, January 20. Kent State leads the all-time series against the Colonials, 11-5.
Follow the Flashes
Be sure to follow the Kent State gymnastics team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for news and updates about the squad. Live meet updates will be available through Twitter. Live scoring from the UIC Quad is available at http://statb.us/b/244102.
Players Mentioned
