The gymnastics team hosted George Washington University for senior night Friday and the last home meet of the season. The Pack posted its highest home meet score of the season, a 195.475, and second highest overall of the season. According to coach Mark Stevenson, he was happy with his team’s performance but was disappointed that all the officials were not on the same page.
“I was happy that we had our second in a row no-fall meet. I was a little disappointed that sometimes the officials disagreed on the quality of the routines,” Stevenson said. “There was a gap between their scores. But my team went out, did their job, hit their routines and we got a score that really helps us.”
The meet was the last regular season meet for three seniors – Ashley Shepard, Dru Davis and Elyse Adams. Shepard took second on the floor exercise with a 9.800 and finished ninth on the vault with a 9.650 in her only appearance in the event this season. Davis and Adams exhibitioned on beam and bars, respectively, Friday. According to junior Taylor Seaman, the seniors gave a determined effort.
“[The seniors] did awesome. Elyse performed her really hard bar routine with a hard dismount and she hit it,” Seaman said. “Dru made her beam routine and Ashley made her floor routine. They just went out and put all their heart into, left it out on the floor and did an awesome job.”
Seaman led the team on the night finishing first on the all-around, bars and the floor exercise. Seaman scored a 39.325 on the all-around, her third highest score of the season. Freshman Jess Panza was a close second in the all-around with a 39.125 and finished first on the beam with a 9.900. Friday night was the first time Panza competed in the all-around all season.
“It felt really good and of course I still have room to improve. It was really nice competing in four events,” Panza said. “I didn’t expect to do that good. It was my first time competing on floor since the first meet. I still have a lot of room to improve but I am definitely happy.”
This weekend the team will host the EAGL championships in Reynolds Coliseum. This event will be the last opportunity for the team to notch a score for placement in the NCAA Regional Tournament, and with a 195.475, the team is on the right track heading to regionals. According to Stevenson, the team is reaching a high at a point in the season when it needs it the most.
“I feel like we are peaking at the right time. We had all those young kids like Jess Panza and Brooke Barr and that whole group that had to learn how to compete at this level,” Stevenson said. “This team has a lot of potential to do nothing but get better. “
The Regional tournament will be held in Reynolds Coliseum Saturday and is slated to begin at 3 p.m.
