The Kent State gymnastics team

held to its goal of hitting five out of

six routines, but fell short yet again

on the beam yesterday against Ball

State. But with a win over the Cardinals

(194.5-193.150), the Flashes

earned a new team high score.

Kent State coach Brice Biggin

said he was pleased overall with

the gymnasts’ performance. “It was

obviously better,” he said. “But still

not good enough.”

The Flashes also took this meet

as an opportunity to make some

adjustments to the lineup.

“It was a different lineup because

we needed to give (junior Christina)

Lenny a break,” Biggin said.

“Her shins have been hurting so I

think considering we had to make

changes, it was a good meet from

the girls.”

Junior Christine Abou-Mitri was

the team’s only all-around competitor

and won the meet with a score of 39.10, leaving her unbeaten by

a gymnast in the Mid-American

Conference.

Freshman Lindsay Runyan

placed first on the bars with a

9.825, and senior Lydia Barrett’s

9.775 tied her with two Ball State

gymnasts for second.

Abou-Mitri’s score of 9.725

was not enough to place her in

the top three on bars, but she

made up for it by winning the

beam with a 9.875. Placing second

was senior Brittany Kopp

(9.75), who, according to Biggin,

continues to be a great beam

competitor.

“BK (Kopp) had a good

meet. She had a couple checks

on beam, but it was after two

kids that fell,” Biggin said. “She

did what she needed to do and

stepped up as a senior.”

The team only counted one

fall on the beam, but assistant

coach Sharon Sabin said she still

feels the team is capable of going

six for six.

“Beam was a little better

today. We had our usual four

through six competitors hit, but

we still can’t find six kids to hit,”

Sabin said. “As a coach, you

never give up on a team. You

just keep at it until you find the

right combination of people.”

On the vault, Abou-Mitri

placed first with a 9.825. Tying

for second place were freshmen Rachel Guida and Lauren

Wozniak (9.775) and following

closely behind was Kopp (9.725).

The floor team once again

proved their dominance, and

senior Sam Heydlauff placed

first with a 9.825. Junior Danielle

Durbin placed second with 9.8.

“We had some great performances,”

Sabin said. “You can be happy

because we beat a MAC team; happy

to replace a 190 with a 194, but

we still didn’t do our job.”

Contact sports reporter Katie

Corbut at [email protected].