The Kent State Gymnastics team’s senior Karlie Franz scored fourth-straight 9.900 or over in the win against Bowling Green.

Kent State defeated its Mid-American Conference rival by a score of 195.625 to 195.025.

The team moved to 5-5 overall and 2-1 in the MAC.

The Flashes scored a 49.300 on the floor, continuing the team’s streak of scoring at least 49.000 in the event. The team had the nineteenth highest scoring floor routine in the nation heading into today’s meet.

Franz scored a 9.900 on the floor.

“It’s the same floor routine she’s done for a couple of years which is good and it’s like why change something when it’s not broken,’” coach Brice Biggin said. “She just has been so consistent with it, that it’s just a part of her. She can go out there and repeat that routine time-after-time at such a high level.”

Franz also scored a 9.850 on the vault and a 9.875 on the bars, both of which were a team high for those events. Franz led the team in three out of the four events.

“I’m capable of this,” Franz said. “I just go and have fun, and it’s just automatic now.”

The Flashes improved upon last week’s performance on the bars with a score of 49.050, compared to last week’s 48.600 outing.

“I thought our first couple of bar teams did a really good job setting up the other bar routines,” coach Biggin said. “We were a lot closer to where we should be on bars.”

KSU’s next highest scoring event was on the vault, accumulating a score of 48.925.

The team’s lowest scoring event was on the beam with a score of 48.350. Sophomore Alyssa Guns led the team with a score of 9.800 for the event.

When asked how the team was able to come into the meet with energy, Biggin said that he felt the team looked “very uninspired” and that after talking to the team after warm ups the team “snapped out of it.”

Looking ahead, the Flashes’ next meet is at home for a rematch with Ball State. KSU lost earlier in the season to the Cardinals at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic.

“We’re just gonna have to start off right from our very first routine and put up big scores all day,” Biggin said. “We know that Ball State is a good team. They’ve proven week-in and week-out that they’re certainly capable of performing at a high level. We feel like we have a team that can match up with them.”

When asked how he feels about how the team has performed this far into the season, coach Biggin said that he thinks that the team has not had its best meet by any means and that the team still has “a lot of room to grow.”

The Flashes’ next meet is scheduled for Sunday Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. in the M.A.C. Center.

Michael Neenan is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].