Weekly Newsletter from Coach Day
2/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
I hope everyone's week is going well! We returned from Ames Iowa on Saturday and it was great to actually have a day off (Sunday) to recharge after loads of traveling around the country.
I would give our performance in Iowa a "B" to "B+". We weren't quite on our "A" game; however, we did have some good performances. Unfortunately we had a few of our heavy hitters struggle on a couple of events. Our hit ratio as a team was 20 for 24 which equates to an 83% hit ratio. Obviously our goal is always 24 for 24 but we hung in there and still managed to break into the 190's. Our goal is to break into the 192's or higher in the future and we are working hard in the gym to try and accomplish that this Friday against Southeast Missouri.
Last Friday we started on Beam at Iowa State where we unfortunately had to count a fall for an event total of 47.525 = 9.505 average. Sophomore Julia Sebben started us off with a decent set with a 9.425. She was followed by Sophomore Chelsea Grimison who had a career high performance with a 9.7! Great job!!! 3rd up was freshman Mariana Murphy who unfortunately had a fall on her series and received an 8.675. Bummer. She was followed by Kara Witgen (JR) who had a couple of small wobbles but still scored a respectable 9.475. 5th up and most consistent on beam this year was Senior Sarah Neumann who once again banged out a great set for a 9.75. Sarah's overall average for the year on beam at this point is a 9.675. Last up was Senior Shannen Kelly who had an uncharacteristic performance that included a fall on her series for a 9.175. Overall not the way to start off a meet but everyone stayed focused and pushed on.
Floor was our next event where everyone hit their sets and did a nice job for an event total of 48.0 = 9.6 average. Freshman Brittney Reed 9.5, Chelsea 9.5, Junior Darby Germain 9.6, Sophomore Casey Bell 9.55, Sophomore Jamie Lewis 9.575, and Kara Witgen with a 9.775 which tied her high score of the year , which she also scored at the Ozone Invitational in Tennessee early this season. Overall everyone did good sets, but we still need to land our tumbling passes a little taller and cleaner to push a high 48 event total.
Our 3rd event was Vault where we improved by 2 tenths as a team from the week before. At this point all of our vaults start from a 9.8 so the scores that we are getting our good; however, we need to get our start Values Up which we are working on in practice. Hopefully we'll have a few athletes increase those start values this weekend against SEMO. Our event total was a 47.55 = 9.51 average. Our individual scores were; Shannen 9.375, Mariana 9.475, (SR) Joey Ching 9.525 Season high, Chelsea Grimison 9.5, Kara 9.55, and Julia 9.5.
Our last event was Bars where we also had 2 falls unfortunately. Brittney started us off with a clean set with a 9.525. Julia was up next and really had some problems with her cast handstand and PAK salto and ended up with a 9.1. Jamie Lewis was 3rd and did a good job for a 9.45. (Jamie's routine starts from a 9.9). Darby was up next and scored her 3rd highest mark of the year with a 9.55. (nice job). 5th up was Mariana Murphy who I feel got way underscored. She was incredibly clean and hit all handstands throughout her set but ended with a 9.5. (What a Rip!) Last up was Kara Witgen who was cruzing along until her Handstand Pirouette after her PAK and somehow hung on for an 8.9 (ouch!). This is the 1st time she's missed that part of her routine in 3 years. Obviously this was a fluke and I know she'll get back on track this Friday. Kara's yearly average on Bars prior to this mishap was a 9.55. Overall we fought through the meet and did a decent job. We obviously have to take advantage of competing at home this weekend and try to break into the 192+ range. I believe we are capable of making this happen. Bottom line is EVERYONE has to do their job and "get through sets". Please remember that all of our home meets are streamed live. Just go to goairforcefalcons.com , Click on Teams and go to women's gymnastics, click on schedule/results, go to next event and click on "watch Live". The meet this Friday will be a double dual with the men who are competing against UIC. The meet starts at 1800 sharp. Tune in and enjoy!
Thanks for reading….. GO FALCONS!!! Doug
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