The Kent State gymnastics team concluded its regular season Sunday at a quad meet where it finished fourth among Ohio State, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
The Flashes recorded a 195.650, their best score on the road this season, just barely falling behind Pitt and WVU.
Despite Kent State’s efforts, the Buckeyes won the meet with a score of 196.875. The Panthers and the Mountaineers followed with a 195.925 and 195.850, respectively.
“I’m not mad at the effort, but I’m disappointed that we are making some mistakes that are costing us,” coach Brice Biggin said. “It was a close meet, and it’s frustrating that we gave away some really easy tenths at the end of the meet that would have helped us be in second place.”
The Flashes overall record now sits at a final 11-5 for the season. Its conference record was cemented at 6-0 last weekend with a win over Ball State, which also secured KSU the Mid-American Conference title.
Previously this season, the Flashes claimed tight wins over both Pittsburgh and West Virginia.
Biggin said he knew it would be a tough meet, but he thought they were capable of outscoring the two teams again.
“We knew Pittsburgh was a good team because they battled us up until the last routine at our place, and Ohio State is notoriously a good team, but West Virginia surprised me,” Biggin said. “They cleaned up a lot and did a good job while we missed by little tenths of points in some spots.”
Floor was the first event of the day for the Flashes.
Junior Charlie Behner was the top Kent State finisher, tying for third with a score of 9.875. This matched Behner’s career-high score on floor.
Senior Alyssa Guns also finished within the top 10 of the event, scoring 9.850 to tie for sixth place.
The second rotation continued on vault, where Behner and junior Mya Migliore narrowly finished in the top 10.
Both recorded a 9.825 to tie for ninth place.
Rotation three on bars proved to be the Flashes best event of the day.
Behner won the event, recording a 9.900. This was the second time during the meet that Behner matched a career high, with the 9.900 matching her career high on bars.
Junior Heidi Shultz was close behind, scoring 9.850 to tie for fifth place.
As a team, Kent State posted a 49.100 in the event.
This was the fourth meet in a row the Flashes have posted above a 49.000 score on bars, showing improvements from early in the season where bars were the team’s weakest scoring event.
“The bars group is continuing to step up,” Biggin said. “In the last four meets, they have gone out and done really well. So I’m certainly very happy with that group.”
Beam closed competition for the Flashes. Biggin said this is where the team gave up important points.
“We talk all the time about the importance of finishing routines and taking care of the little things,” Biggin said. “They did good beam routines but then fell apart on sticking dismounts, so they didn’t score how we know they’re capable of.”
Still, sophomore Ashley Morgan claimed a podium spot, tying for third place with a score of 9.850.
Schultz followed closely, scoring 9.825 to tie for sixth place in the event.
Altogether, the Flashes landed in fourth place as a team with an all-around score of 195.650.
With the meet not living up to the intended outcome, Biggin said the team needs to clean up its little mistakes ahead of postseason meets.
“We were really hoping to come out, at a minimum, in second, and that’s where the tenths came back to haunt us from being able to finish where we really feel like we should have,” Biggin said. “When you make mistakes early like we did, you put yourself in a hole, and sometimes that hole is really difficult to climb out of. We really just have to continue to grind the little things and stay focused all the way through the end of a routine.”
With the regular season behind them, the Flashes are headed to Mount Pleasant, Mich., Sunday for their first postseason meet at the MAC Championships.
Having beaten every team in the MAC during the regular season, Biggin said their competitors will have to bring something different if they want a shot at the championship.
“We’ve already beaten every team,” Biggin said. “We just need to go in there confident and hungry. We took the MAC title this year, so we just have to show up and prove it one more time.”
Kailyn Tibolla is a reporter. Contact her at ktibolla@kent.edu.
