April 6, 2002
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-The 2002 Pittsburgh gymnastics season ended on Saturday with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regionals held at Penn State's Rec Hall. Three counted falls on the balance beam hurt the Panthers' chances of finishing higher.
The Panthers started out on the floor exercise in the second of six rotations after receiving a bye to open the meet. All six floor routines were between a 9.625 and 9.775, with sophomore Diandra O'Connor (Owasso, Okla./Owasso) leading the way. Her score of 9.775 was followed by 9.75 by fellow sophomore Alyse Zeffiro (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem).
Junior Heather Launse (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) earned a 9.7 and the Panthers received 9.65 scores for Marcy Blitz (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) and Nathalie Sulpher (Ottawa, Canada/Franco-Quest) for a team score of 48.525 points.
The Panthers had nearly that many points in their second event, the vault. Sulpher led the way to 48.475 team points with a 9.825, tying her own mark for the second-highest score in team history. Sulpher now has the top three scores on that list with her school-record 9.85 coming earlier in the year.
O'Connor had the second-highest score with a 9.7 and Zeffiro earned a 9.675 from the judges. Blitz added a 9.65 and Launse scored a 9.625 to account for the final total. Midway through the meet, the Panthers were in fourth place with 97.0 points, just 0.65 behind Iowa, which led with 97.65.
After another bye in the fourth rotation, Pittsburgh headed to the uneven parallel bars, its lowest scoring event throughout the season. This meet was no different as the Panthers had to count four falls and two scores under an 8.8 in scoring only 45.725 points in the event. The top Panther scores were senior Colleen Crisi (Woodhaven, Mich./Carlson) and Sulpher with 9.525's from the judges. Launse had a 9.275 in just her fifth bars performance of the season.
Pittsburgh finished on the balance beam and didn't count a fall for an event score of 48.25 points. In an inspired last performance, senior Rebecca Singleton (Poland, Ohio/Boardman) battled through a torn labrum in her shoulder for a score of 9.825, tying for the best individual effort on the day for the Panthers.
Pittsburgh's 190.975 points was its lowest total since the second meet of the season but was skewed with the counted falls on bars.
"If we didn't have all those problems on bars, we would have been right up there with George Washington for fourth place," Head Coach Debbie Yohman said. "I'm disappointed a bit but we've had a successful season and we're not hanging our heads."
