March 22, 2008
Complete Results
PITTSBURGH--The Pitt gymnastics team landed a quad-meet title Saturday afternoon at the Fitzgerald Field House, scoring a season-high 194.100 to top Cornell, Temple and UNC in its final meet of the 2008 regular season. The Tar Heels, who are currently ranked third in the EAGL, finished a close second with a 193.725 as the Big Red captured third with a 192.000. Temple rounded-out the scoring with a 188.625, good enough for fourth.
"The team did a great job hitting for a no-fall team score for the first time all season," said Pitt head coach Debbie Yohman. "This is what we've been after all year, although we won't be celebrating the season high [score], as we look forward to doing it again next week."
Pitt (5-13, 2-4) began the day with a strong performance on vault, notching its highest team score of the season on the event with a 48.600. Anya Chayka (Germantown, Md./Richard Montgomery) led the way for the Panthers as she scored a career-high 9.800 on the event. Chayka would go on to capture third place overall on vault.
Pitt also received strong marks from freshmen Molly Moyer (Telford, Pa./Homeschooled) and Shannon Vafiadou (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah), who landed a 9.775 and a 9.750, respectively, rounding out the Panthers' top-three vault scores.
On bars, Pitt's two seniors led the team in scoring as the Panthers tied their season-high team score of 48.175. In their final home meet, Samantha DeBone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) and Kaitlin Harrison (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial) tallied marks of 9.750 and 9.725, respectively, as DeBone captured a third-place finish on bars.
Sophomore Alix Croop (Allentown, Pa./Bridgeway Academy) also helped her team's cause, notching a score of 9.725 as well on bars. Croop has had strong showings on the event in her last three meetings, tallying scores of 9.725 or better.
Pitt then moved to beam, posting high marks once again as three Panthers notched career-high scores.
Chayka continued her outstanding day as she scored a career-best 9.850 on beam, leading the Panthers and capturing first-place on the event. Croop followed suit with career-high marks as well, tallying a 9.775. Vafiadou rounded-out the Panthers' top-three competitors with a career-best score of 9.750.
Pitt closed-out meet action on the floor, receiving impressive marks once again as two Panther gymnasts performed to career-high marks. Moyer and Croop both out-did their previous best scores, tallying impressive 9.875 marks to finish in a first-place tie on the event.
Vafiadou tied her career-high score of 9.775, as Pitt captured the meet's top-three scores on floor. All three Panthers helped their team to a season-high score on floor with a 48.900.
Vafiadou would go on to win the meet all-around title, with a career-high score of 38.975. The Pitt freshman beat-out UNC's Christine Nguyen, ranked as the No. 1 all-around competitor in the EAGL, as Nguyen captured a second-place finish with a score of 38.800.
"What a nice way to end the regular season for our team, and our seniors," Yohman added, "everyone contributing and clicking on all cylinders. We fed the 'positive Panther' today. No better way to build our confidence, which has certainly taken a hit this season, as we head into the EAGL Championship next weekend."
Pitt honored its seniors and alumni during its final meet of the regular season with ceremonies following today's competition. Next up for the Panthers will be the EAGL Championships hosted by West Virginia in Morgantown on March 29, at 4 p.m.
