Jan. 3, 2008
PITTSBURGH -
The Pitt gymnastics team will open its season tomorrow night at Fitzgerald Field House with the annual Blue and Gold Meet. The competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
As the team prepares for its 34th year of competition, an air of excitement began to build around the program. Head Coach Debbie Yohman has been a part of 22 such advents, but she and her coaching staff have never felt quite this good heading into a new year of competition. The team returns two All-EAGL honorees in Samantha DeBone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) (beam) and Dani Bryan (Germantown, Md./Northwest), who earned recognition on vault and floor.
"We're so excited for the upcoming season," revealed Yohman. "We've been training very hard since the opening of our new facility and now that we have a functional place to practice, we have been able to bring in higher level gymnasts.
While the renovated facility has aided the Panthers in the never-ending quest to replenish their roster with quality talent, Pitt's head coach is quick to point out that she and the coaching staff must continue their tireless work on the recruiting trails.
"It hasn't happened overnight; we're still battling the same programs that we have in the past for recruits, but we've had a great response from some of the gymnasts that we couldn't even talk to before."
This year's freshman class is indicative of Pitt's recent recruiting success. The three newcomers, Mallory Brewer (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Central Catholic), Molly Moyer (Telford, Pa./Homeschooled) and Shannon Vafiadou (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah), are strong all-arounders who are also aggressive in the other events.
"We definitely met our recruiting goals for the vault and floor," Yohman declared. "And we got some great all-arounders in the process."
Those three frosh should serve as great additions to the team and allow the Panthers to be a more consistent squad in 2008 and beyond.
"In terms of sheer numbers, we've added close to 12 routines to replace the five that we lost from last season, so we have a lot more options to work with this year," commented assistant coach Mike Rowe.
The gymnasts who have had surgeries in the off season are coming back strong and with the three freshmen strengthening the weaker events, we will get a chance to see all the talent this team has.
The following is an event by event breakdown of the Panthers' roster:
Vault
Led by last year's EAGL champion Dani Bryan, the Pitt vaulters are much improved from 2007. In addition to Bryan, the Panthers have a plethora of other 10.0 start value vaults in their arsenal, something that every team in the country strives for.
"Dani is the best in the EAGL, hands down," said Yohman. "And many of the other girls, like Anya Chayka (Germantown, Md./Richard Montgomery), Shannon McConnell (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny) and Krista Rubini (Newton, Pa./Council Rock North) have either upgraded or are in the process of upgrading their vaults, allowing us to have a full compliment of 10.0 vaults."
"That's our main goal," added assistant coach Jessica Bartgis. "We want to compete with a full lineup of 10.0 start value vaults. We came extremely close to achieving that last year, and with the vaults coming in this year from our freshman I believe we will make that goal a reality. Thanks to the talent of our young vaulting squad we haven't had the need to learn new vaults, allowing us more time to work on polishing and perfecting."
"All three of our freshmen have 10.0 vaults and have had success at Junior Olympic Nationals," continued Yohman. "Shannon Vafiadou is currently working on upgrading her 10.0 vault. It's the second time she's upgraded a 10.0 vault in the last six months, giving her three 10.0 vaults in her repertoire."
"We lost one big vaulter to graduation last year (Andrea Arlotta) but welcome two more vaulters in her place" said Bartgis. "Freshmen Molly Moyer and Shannon Vafiadou have come in with 10.0 start value vaults that are ready to shine. These two are extremely hard working girls who will be fighting to make an immediate impact."
Bars
The Panthers will certainly have some big shoes to fill on the bars with the departure of Arlotta. Last season, Arlotta averaged a score of 9.806 in the event, including two marks of 9.900. The team has come into this season, however, with an extreme focus to pick up the slack left by the Panthers' all-time leader in points.
"There is no superstar on the bars this year, but the upperclassmen have centered their focus on the details of their routines in order to try and fill the void left by Dre," commented Rowe. "We've been working very hard on our fitness and I believe we're a month ahead of where we were last year at this time."
Seniors Samantha DeBone and Kaitlin Harrison (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial), along with junior Alix Croop (Allentown, Pa./Bridgeway Academy) are three of the upperclassmen that Rowe referred to who are stepping up to replace Arlotta. DeBone, a two-time All-EAGL second team selection on bars (2005, 2006) looks to anchor the squad in Arlotta's absence. Harrison and Croop are looking to improve upon the 2007 season, when Harrison posted two scores of 9.775 and Croop averaged a mark 9.633 on the bars.
The squad has made endurance a focal point for this season and, as with the vault, many of them are also working on making their performances even better, which should bode well for the team's scores.
"We have four girls who are upgrading their dismounts," mentioned Rowe. "Sarah Thompson (Shokan, N.Y./Onteora) now has a full 10.0 routine that we are very excited about and the three freshmen will all be able to contribute on the bars as well. Shannon (Vafiadou) should contribute immediately and Mallory (Brewer) and Molly (Moyer) are not far behind in terms of their progression."
The progress of the three newcomers should help to aid the Panthers in an event that Yohman described as "weak" for Pitt over the past two seasons. The Panthers' coaching staff believes the steam will solidify this event as the year progresses.
"Our bars will be clean this year and we will be close to 10.0's once we incorporate our upgrades," said Yohman. "Mike has improved the girls' strength and now their focus is on the dismounts and releases."
Those upgrades, combined with a talented incoming freshman class should make life difficult for the coaching staff when the time comes to determine the starting lineups.
"I'm not sure about what are lineup is going to look like yet," stated Rowe. "It'll be interesting because we have more people working bars than any other event, but ultimately, the people who are the most consistent in the gym will get into the lineup."
Beam
Potentially the strongest and deepest event for the Panthers in 2008, the beam will also bring plenty of excitement this season. Pitt's lineup features many aggressive beamers with a tremendous amount of ability.
"These girls are talented and they're making things happen right now," announced Yohman. "They're starting to compete like they own their routines and not as if they're just working on them. They're making it look easy instead of just trying to stay on the beam."
Confidence on the beam is something that has spread throughout the entire team and has caught the attention of the entire coaching staff.
"It's very apparent to me that there's more confidence on the beam in practice," said Rowe. "Hopefully that confidence will show up at our competitions and everyone will step up to the challenge."
Two Panthers who are eagerly awaiting the challenges that lie ahead in 2008 are Chayka and Samantha DeBone.
"Anya looks incredible this year," interjected Yohman. "She had a good season in 2007, but she still is not satisfied and looks to become more consistent this year. Sammi is another one who has always been consistent on beam, but she still has goals to achieve. She is still progressing and her hard work is really showing."
Junior Andrea Konesky (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin), last season's lead-off in the lineup, is also a strong performer on the beam and will be another option for coach Yohman when the time comes to set the lineup.
Floor
This year's edition of the floor exercise is all about getting back to the great tradition of Pitt floor. In the coaching staff's estimation, it is probably the deepest floor squad for the Panthers in the past two years.
"The last two seasons we struggled to get five scores because of injuries and a lack of depth," said Yohman. "Now we have 11 kids working the floor, any one of which could make the lineup if they are healthy."
Bartgis reaffirmed Yohman's thoughts when she said, "Last season, especially, we had several high caliber routines with high level tumbling passes but were extremely limited when it came to having depth. This season's floor squad should without a doubt show the greatest amount of improvement from last year.
"We have a great variety of music and dance that will have our fans going wild," continued Bartgis. "We also have three gymnasts that should open up with E level tumbling passes which proves our difficulty is still top notch."
McConnell returns as the Panthers' most consistent performer from last season, while Chayka, who blasted into the lineup in the second half of the year, boasts a beautifully choreographed routine with classic long lines and tumbling that would satisfy many people's requirements.
Sophomores Jessi Byich (Nicktown, Pa./Bishop Carroll) and Rubini, as well as Croop are also back this year on the floor and will turn some heads with their dancing and tumbling skills.
All-Around
Nine of the 14 girls on the roster are working as all-arounders, with a few of those gymnasts targeting their weak areas for the 2009 campaign. The girls are not wasting anytime preparing for this season either, however, even the girls that are sitting out with bumps and bruises.
"The girls that are healthy look very strong," stated Yohman. "And the girls with minor injuries aren't staying down for very long. They are keeping busy when they're not 100 percent and are coming back to practice quicker."
"They have all worked so hard over the summer and the results are paying off. These girls have realized that in order to be the best, they have to train in the summer."
Last season, the Panthers had only three girls, Arlotta, Bryan and Byich compete in the all-around. This year, Yohman and her staff expect there to be more than one all-around in the lineup each week, based on the fact that all nine gymnasts have the potential to compete. With that many people battling for a position, the level of competition has surely been elevated.
"The bar has been raised again and most of the girls have risen to the occasion already," said Yohman. "There's energy in the gym everyday, something that's unique this year. The kids are confident because they're seeing good things happen everyday and we, as coaches, are seeing a new sense of commitment to Panther gymnastics."
