March 28, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team will travel to Ypsilanti, Michigan on Saturday to compete in the Mid-American Conference Championships. The meet will begin at 2:00 p.m. The Falcons ended their season 3-3 in the MAC, and 5-10 overall. BGSU has not finished higher than fourth since the 1996-97 season where the Falcons clinched a first-place finish.

Last week the Orange and Brown had their hands full with tough opponents Ohio State and Kent State in the All-Ohio. BGSU (192.425) finished third behind Ohio State, 195.825, and Kent State, 195.325, respectively.

There were some positives in the loss, however. The team posted their third highest team score on the season. Jacque Bernhardt continued to excel on the vault where she posted a 9.850 her second highest score of the season, placing her in second. Jenna Wirtanen also finished in ninth with a season best of 9.725. The Falcons found a new star in Queenita Gamble, who competed on the vault for only the second time this season, but scored a 9.550.

The bars would see the team without their star Sakura Tomita, who was injured in warm-ups. Freshman Megan Chronister picked up the slack and finished 11th with a score of 9.625. Gamble performed well on beam for the Falcons and tied her career best at 9.700.

The highlight of the night came on the floor where Morgan Balzer set a career best 9.800, tying her for sixth place. Bernhardt also posted a high score of 9.775, followed by Allison Swafford who tied her personal best at 9.750. As a team they set a new season high on floor with a 48.650.