March 12, 2008
Pitt vs. Maryland, Michigan and Temple Notes
PITTSBURGH- The Pitt gymnastics team will travel to College Park, Md., this weekend for its final away meet of the season against Maryland, Michigan and Temple. The Panthers will try to stop a string of six consecutive losses dating back to February 1, but due to injuries, they will have to do it without some of their top performers.
The Panthers suffered a big blow to their lineup before their tri-meet against Texas Woman's University and No. 14 Denver, as Dani Bryan (Germantown, Md./Northwest), the EAGL's reigning vault champion, tore her Achilles while warming up for the floor exercise. Bryan's absence limited Pitt to only five competitors on vault and floor.
Pitt has already lost sophomore Jessica Byich (Nicktown, Pa./Bishop Carroll) for the season with a torn ACL, while Victoria McGuigan-Carl (Reading, Pa./Exeter) is just now beginning to return to form after breaking her arm in the preseason. Shannon McConnell (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny) also sat out last weekend due to an injury.
Even without Bryan and company in the lineup, Pitt was still able to put up season-bests on bars and floor, with marks of 47.600 and 48.275, respectively against Denver and TWU. Alix Croop (Allentown, Pa./Bridgeway Academy) led the way with team-highs on both of those events. A 9.750 on bars placed her in a three-way tie for seventh and her mark of 9.800 on floor earned a spot in the top-five. Both scores helped Pitt rack up season-bests in each event.
Freshmen Mallory Brewer (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Catholic Central) and Molly Moyer (Telford, Pa./Home Schooled) also helped the Panthers' cause on floor with scores of 9.775 and 9.725, respectively.
Croop's bar routine was supplemented by Sarah Thompson's (Shokan, N.Y./Onteora) 9.700, which placed her tenth.
Anya Chayka (Germantown, Md./Richard Montgomery) led Pitt on vault with a score of 9.700 and claimed ninth overall. Senior Samantha DeBone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) put up a fourth-place mark of 9.725 to tie three other competitors on the beam. DeBone was followed by Shannon Vafiadou, the team's only all-around competitor for the seventh straight meet, who posted a 9.725 en route to a 38.350 in the four events.
Pitt has taken the last two meetings against conference foe Maryland and the last three versus Temple. The Panthers hold a 15-7 edge in the all-time series against the Owls, but face deficits of 7-4 and 18-17 against Michigan and Maryland, respectively.
Action will begin on Saturday, March 15 at 4 p.m. from the Comcast Pavilion.
