The Ball State gymnastics team experienced an admirable loss at their first meet last Saturday. Ohio State's final team score was 188.750, barely surpassing Ball State's score of 184.675.
"I feel great," said Lisa Simonton, head coach of the Ball State gymnastics team. "I feel very pleased with what we were able to do tonight."
Simonton calmed her athletes in preparation for their first meet. Although it was a loss she felt the gymnasts' training paid off and the team did better than she expected.
"We had a few mistakes on vault," Simonton said. "I would like to have a higher hit percentage on vault and a much better performance on bars."
The floor exercise was the only event that Ball State won at the meet. The uneven bars proved to be deadly for the Cardinals, as they were outscored 48.225 to 43.925. This covers the difference in the overall team score.
Sophomore Erica Gilkerson earned second-place on vault, with a score of 9.650. She finished fourth in the all-around with a score of 36.800. The score of 9.575 earned Junior Kelly Watson first-place for her floor exercise. Watson's total score of 37.425 placed her second in the all-around.
Juniors Lauren West and Jenna Tarkington both contributed at the meet and won individual awards. West secured two second-place positions with her scores of 9.575 on balance beam and 9.525 with her floor exercise.
Tarkington earned third-place on vault, scoring 9.600 points and third-place on floor with a score of 9.250. Her scores were particularly exciting because there were doubts of her competing due to previous injuries.
"We were told that she would not be able to participate at all for the entire year," Simonton said. "She came out, did three out of the four events and rocked the house." -á-á -á-á-á-á -á -á
Simonton said steady but marked improvement can be expected in the future.-á
"We had some problem areas but we're supposed to right now," Simonton said. "It's part of The PLAN. We're not supposed to peak right now. We are supposed to peak at the end of the season and at the MAC Championships."
Their next meet is Sunday at Northern Illinois at 1 p.m.
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