University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships
Tar Heels Place Fourth in EAGL Championships in Morgantown
March 29, 2008 | Women's Gymnastics
March 29, 2008
The University of North Carolina gymnastics team traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia to face Rutgers, George Washington, Maryland, New Hampshire, NC State, Pittsburgh, and host West Virginia in the EAGL Championships on Saturday, March 29. The Tar Heels placed fourth with a score of 193.950, falling just behind New Hampshire (194.550); North Carolina State (195.475) took second and West Virginia University (196.050) placed first behind their outstanding showing in the floor exercise. The Tar Heels move to 19-9, topping Maryland, Pittsburgh, George Washington, and Rutgers.
"We finished in the top half, and that's good for us this year considering what we've been through," Coach Derek Galvin said. "It's been a challenging year for us, dealing with injuries and such, and it was great for our girls to see one of our own, Christine, win the all-around, especially after being named EAGL gymnast of the year. It was a tough tournament, but we really hit our routines in the end when it counted, having only five gymnasts in the vault and bars. We hit five out of five routines on the bars, which was great."
Starting on the beam, the Tar Heels scored a 48.325. Sophomore Christine Nguyen set the pace, scoring a 9.825 and placing tied for second. Sophomore Kristina Jacob placed fourth with a 9.800, and Kara Wright, a sophomore, earned herself a 9.750, good enough for ninth place.
On the floor, the Tar Heels bounced back from an injury-plagued meet last week to score a 48.550. For the second consecutive event, Christine Nguyen led the Heels with a 9.875 and placed in a tie for fifth. Freshman Karli Jones set her personal best with a 9.850, tying for eighth. Jennifer Valby earned a 9.675 to round out the Heels' top three.
Moving to the vault, the Tar Heels set a team score of 48.475 while only have five gymnasts compete. Christine Nguyen again led the Heels, setting a personal best with a 9.950 and placing first in the event. Karli Jones and junior Jennifer Valby each scored a 9.800, Jones' score being her second personal best of the tournament, placing them in a tie for eleventh. Kara Wright scored a 9.700.
The Carolina gymnastics team ended their day on the uneven parallel bars, making it their best event of the day with a 48.600 despite again only competing 5 gymnasts. Christine Nguyen, for the fourth time, topped the Heels' roster with a 9.825 and a tie for second in the tournament, giving her a personal best all-around score of 39.475, solidly giving her the first-place all-around tally. Kara Wright completed her routine to the tune of a 9.800, a personal best, for a fifth-place tie, good enough for eighth in the all-around, and senior Shawna Kelly scored 9.700 to put her in a tie for 14th place. Karli Jones placed eleventh in the all-around.
"As we have been for the last several weeks, we only had five competitors on vault and on bars. Christine Nguyen did the best vault we've seen her do since she's been at Carolina and she won that event, scoring a 9.950, and all our vaulters did a great job as well."
On Monday, the Tar Heels will find out to which NCAA Regional Championship site they will move. Coach Galvin expects to be at Penn State or the University of Florida.
Players Mentioned
