Spring Break
Friday the 13th means bad luck for Blugolds on beam
Despite two first-place finishes, Eau Claire falls to UW-Oshkosh again in Mcphee
Breann Schossow
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: Sports
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The team came away from the dual meet with two first-place finishes on vault and the uneven bars. Senior Anna Sutherland grabbed one of the first-place finishes with a season-high score of 9.400 on vault and junior Samantha Howard tied with a gymnast from Oshkosh to take the other first-place finish with a score of 9.025.
The team opened up the home meet with this season's strongest event - vault. Head coach Jean DeLisle said the team's performance was expected.
"It was pretty comparable," she said.
Sutherland said Friday night's performances were probably close to the best vaults of the season for the competitors.
"It was a really good opener for the meet," she said. "It gave us a lot of momentum to get going."
The team followed up on the uneven bars with success and some strong routines, DeLisle said. However, the team still falls more than she would like to see.
A previous goal for the team was to improve their start values for the events, which, DeLisle said, has been successful.
"We're definitely doing what we need to in trying to get our start values up, but then we're giving it back away when we constantly fall," she said.
The meet fell apart when the team moved on to balance beam. Of the six Lady 'Golds that competed in this event, none of them were able to stick their routine, and all had at least one fall.
"That's where we need to focus our attention and get it to where they can compete their skills and stay on," DeLisle said. "They do in practice, so I don't know if it's nerves … that's somewhere where we are obviously lacking when we're giving away three to four points on one event alone."
She added those lost points are difficult to make up in the other events, but the team will continue to work on it.
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