March 1, 2008
PITTSBURGH -
The Pitt gymnastics team dropped a tough contest to EAGL conference rival West Virginia tonight at Fitzgerald Field House. The Panthers put up solid performances in each of the meet's four events, including one individual title, but failed to get past the Mountaineers and fell by a score of 194.025-191.925. The loss marked the 14th consecutive meet that Pitt has failed to topple WVU.
Pitt's aforementioned event crown came from Samantha DeBone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield), whose score of 9.800 on bars marked a season-high and bested 11 other competitors. The title marked DeBone's second individual crown this season and her first on bars. Fellow senior Kaitlin Harrison (Manchester, N.H./Manchester) also posted a season-high with a score of 9.725, which placed her third overall.
Dani Bryan (Germantown, Md./Northwest) led Pitt (1-9, 1-3 EAGL) in two events this evening, the vault and floor exercise. Her 9.850 on vault landed her in a tie for second with WVU's Chelsi Tabor and also tied her season-best for the event. Bryan went on to register a 9.800 on floor to grab a tie for third and lock up her second top-three event finish of the evening.
On beam, Sarah Thompson (Shokan, N.Y./Onteora) also tied a season-high, as she posted her third 9.775 of the season. The mark was good enough to land her in a three-way tie for second-place, the highest overall finish for Pitt in the event.
Freshman Shannon Vafiadou (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) competed in the all-around for the sixth consecutive meet and turned in a career-high score of 38.525. Her 9.775 on floor was also a career-best for the first year Panther.
Pitt will head west to Denver, Colo., next weekend to take on the Denver Pioneers at Hamilton Gymnasium on Saturday, March 8 at 6 p.m.
For complete results from the Backyard Brawl, follow the link below:
