University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
New Hampshire
Gymnasts Edge New Hampshire In Final Home Meet
March 19, 2006 | Women's Gymnastics
March 19, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - On senior day for Courtney Bumpers, Mikel Hester and Cecilia Liu, the University of North Carolina gymnastics team edged the University of New Hampshire. In their last home meet of the 2006 regular season, the Tar Heels recorded their second-highest team score of 194.975 to top New Hampshire's 194.325.
Head coach Derek Galvin was pleased with the team's performance and extremely happy for all three seniors. "I'm so happy for our seniors and proud of the whole team and how they competed today. What we want for our seniors today is for them to have a special experience for their last meet and that happened with the help of the rest of the team."
In their last home meet as Tar Heels, seniors Bumpers, Hester and Liu finished with top scores in all of their events. On floor, Bumpers finished first and marked a season-high of 9.975, topping her previous season high of 9.950. On beam, Bumpers tied her season-high score of 9.900, which took first place against New Hampshire. Bumpers also won the all-around with a score of 39.450, topping the previous best all-around score of 39.400, which Bumpers produced at the Wolfpack Invitational.
Hester took second place on beam with a score of 9.825, marking her second-highest score for the beam. Liu finished on the bars with a score of 9.725, which also marked her season-high.
Christina Robella and Jennifer Valby finished in a three-way tie for second on the vault with a score of 9.825, also finishing with Justine Turner of New Hampshire. Robella took first on bars with a score of 9.875, while Bumpers and Shawna Kelly tied for third with 9.775. This marked Robella's season-high on bars, she formerly held 9.850.
"This meet is great preparation for the EAGL Championships coming up next for us," said head coach Galvin. "I am proud of all the members of the team for showing a good, strong performance."
Beginning March 25, the gymnastics team will start competition in the EAGL Championships held in Piscataway, N.J.
Team Scores
North Carolina 194.975
New Hampshire 194.325
Carolina's Scores
Vault (49.000, 2nd)
Courtney Turco 9.125
Shawna Kelly 9.750
Jennifer Valby 9.825
Mikel Hester 9.800
Christina Robella 9.825
Courtney Bumpers 9.800
Bars (48.850, 1st)
Claire Smith 9.700
Cecilia Liu 9.725
Jennifer Valby 9.600
Shawna Kelly 9.775
Courtney Bumpers 9.775
Christina Robella 9.875
Beam (48.850, 1st)
Claire Smith 9.675
Alice Xu 9.800
Sarrie Rubin 9.125
Mikel Hester 9.825
Christina Robella 9.650
Courtney Bumpers 9.900
Floor (48.275, 2nd)
Alice Xu 9.550
Courtney Turco 8.625
Sarrie Rubin 9.600
Mikel Hester 9.250
Christina Robella 9.900
Courtney Bumpers 9.975
All Around
Courtney Bumpers 39.450
Christina Robella 39.250
Players Mentioned
