Feb. 22, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - On Sunday Feb. 24, the Bowling Green State University gymnastics team will look to go three for three against the Mid-American Conference Michigan schools. They travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. where they will compete against Western Michigan at 1:00 p.m. The Falcons are coming off of a enormous win against Central Michigan, where as a team they posted their highest score since the 2004-05 season, at 193.350.

Close Finish
It came down to six gymnasts in the final rotation last week for the Orange and Brown to steal one from Central Michigan. The Falcons trailed the Chippewas by .675 of a point heading into their last event, the floor. BGSU held nothing back scoring a season high 48.975. Leading the way with her best score on the year was Jacque Bernhardt who posted a 9.875. She was followed by Meg Satterlee and Morgan Balzer who both posted 9.800.

It was defiantly a team effort in the win. Starting the meet off on vault Bernhardt and Guy claimed second and third with 8.850 and 9.825 respectively. Ashlee deLeeuw posted a new season high on vault with her 9.700. Bars saw a huge performance as Guy tied for third with a 9.775 followed by Katie Follett in fifth. Freshman Abby Ashley led the team on beam with a season high of 9.750.

Bucking the Broncos

WMU is coming off a tough loss to Eastern Michigan last week, 193.075-193.000. They were led by Courtney Lesson who won the all-around by a score of 38.800. Heather Carroll also had a big night as she took first on vault with a career high of 9.850. She also led the team on beam tying for first with a 9.750. As a team the Broncos set a new team high on beam with a 48.550. Their team score of 193 is the highest on the season.

WMU currently is 1-3 in the MAC, and 2-8 overall. These two teams met in Bowling Green last year when the Falcons edged the Broncos for a close victory, 189.300-189.075. Overall BGSU holds a commanding 22-7-1 record over the Brown and Gold.

MAC Standings
Currently BGSU's 193.350 has moved them up to fifth place in overall team scores. Kent State leads this category with a score of 195.600. Their floor score last week of 48.975 has them in third, while their score of 48.550 on vault has them sitting in fifth. On bars and beam they hold 12th spot with scores of 48.225 and 47.900 respectively.

Guy leads the team in the all-around with a mark of 38.550 and sits in 10th place. She however, trails Bernhardt in vault scores as she has a 9.825 and holds fifth. Bernhardt has a 9.850 and sits in fourth. Guy's new score of 9.775 ties Michelle Luchini for sixth place overall on bars. Ashley's new score of 9.750 has moved her up to 14th overall on the beam. Bernhardt's new high of 9.875 has her tied for first on the floor with Kent State's Christina Lenny. Guy and Satterlee sit in seventh with marks of 9.825.

Currently the Falcons are one of two teams undefeated in the MAC at 3-0, and 7-3 overall.

Spring Break in the Gym
For the next three meets the Falcons will be on the road. They will travel to Kent State for a MAC showdown on Feb. 29th at 7:00 p.m. They will then turn around and compete against Penn State on March 1st at 7:00 p.m. The team will enjoy a short week of rest before they head to warm Raleigh, North Carolina where they will compete in a quad meet at North Carolina State. That meet will be held on Sunday March 9th, at 7:00 p.m. After some fun in the sun the team will be anxiously waiting to return home to host Northern Illinois to wrap-up their MAC meets. That meet will be held in Anderson Area at 7:00 p.m.