Team steps it up on beam

Gymnastics scored a new season high.

By Sam Wilson

Published Feb. 27, 2007

Gymnastics coach Rob Drass has said that sophomore Adrianne Perry would trade her all-around titles in order for the team to not have to count falls on beam, something it has struggled with all season. That's exactly what happened during the team and all-around portion of the Callaway Bank Cat Classic.

The team's first five beam competitors did not fall, meaning the team would not have to count a fall. Junior Julie Abaray was the fifth, and after her 9.925, the team was in a state of jubilation.

"I was really excited," Abaray said. "Actually, one of the first things that I thought of was 'Thank you Bunny (beam coach Lauren Schwartzmann) for having faith in me.'"

The rest of the team was equally happy.

"I think it was like a huge sigh of relief that our beam troubles are away," sophomore Alicia Hatcher said. "I think it's just relief kind of too that all right, we've got this under our belt, we can do this week in, week out."

Drass has said beam is his team's highest potential event, even when it was the lowest score. His projection that his team is capable of reaching a 49.2 on beam was just about on the money, as on Friday the score was 49.175. He said the key was for the team to not worry about it.

"I think the key was not making it a big deal anymore," he said. "We just kind of backed off and said, look, you look good in practice, you look good in warm-ups, there's no reason we shouldn't be aggressive and go after it and good things are going to happen."

As for Perry, she did not win the all-around title. A fall on bars dropped her score to a 9.250, and she lost to Eastern Michigan's Jolene Worley 38.900-38.825. Despite the fall on the bars, she scored a 9.875 on beam and a 9.85 on floor.

"I feel like I didn't try to let the fall affect me," Perry said.

The bars was the only event in which the team did not reach 49, as it scored a 49.025 on vault and a 49.050 on floor. This brought a new season high of 196.075, more than seven tenths ahead of the previous season high and good enough to easily beat Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan and William and Mary at the meet. Drass attributes the elevated performance to beam.

"Now we can just take this show on the road," he said.

The Regional Qualifying Score system takes a team's six highest scores, of which three must be on the road. The highest is dropped, and the remaining five are averaged. Since the team has had only three road meets, its 192.625 in the Cancun Classic Jan. 5 is still being counted. A good score at Pittsburgh this Friday would remove the Cancun score from the system.

In the individual competition, Perry took the vault and floor titles. Abaray won the bars title with a score of 9.85. Perry tied Worley for the beam title at 9.85, but Worley had the tie-break and thus won the title.

Perhaps the biggest story of Saturday was senior Whitney Crater.

Her scores of 9.85 on both vault and floor were season highs. She and Drass both said that with the soreness in her Achilles from a tear late last season, it is hard for Crater to compete two days in a row, making Saturday's accomplishments even more special.

"I feel really good about my performance tonight," Crater said. "I feel like I'm peaking at the right time of the season. It's been a long road back, I think this is the first time that I actually feel like I'm actually back."