University of North Carolina Athletics
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Carolina Gymnastics Falls to Maryland
February 14, 2010 | Women's Gymnastics
Feb. 14, 2010
Chapel Hill - The University of North Carolina gymnastics team suffered its first defeat of the season in its first home meet since the 2008 season. Despite a Carolina gymnast placing first on every event, Maryland narrowly edged the Tar Heels 194.150-193.800. Nine of Carolina's 14 gymnasts competed in Carmichael Arena for the first time on Sunday and the crowd of over 2,000, believed to be the largest in UNC gymnastics history, welcomed the Tar Heels back to Chapel Hill.
"It was great to be back in Carmichael. We've been looking to getting back in here for two years. The renovations to Carmichael Arena make it a great gymnastics venue. It's a great venue for the spectators and it's a good venue for the athletes," said head coach Derek Galvin. "Our team performance was good, but not great. We had some great individual performances and our team performance on floor, I was very pleased with that and I know the team was too."
Following a very successful cancer awareness fair, the Tar Heels began the dual meet on vault where Kara Wright won the event title and set a new personal best with a 9.925. Freshman Michelle Ikoma tied for fourth with Maryland's Abigail Adams. Ikoma scored a 9.775. Junior Karli Jones, who began competition for Carolina, scored a 9.650 on vault and placed eighth. Competing for the first time in 2010, sophomore Morgan Evans scored a 9.575 on vault and tied with freshman teammate Elizabeth Durkac for ninth place. As a team the Tar Heels scored a 48.500 on vault, and Galvin said he felt the absence of Zoya Johnson, who was unable to compete due to injury.
"We know that when we've got Morgan healthy and Zoya healthy, our team scoring potential is higher," Galvin said.
Carolina scored 48.700 as a team to win uneven bars. Wright and Durkac tied for first on the event, both scoring 9.825. It was Durkac's best performance of the season on any event. Christine Nguyen and junior Krista Jasper were part of a three-way tie for fourth with a score of 9.750. Taylor Brown scored a 9.550 and placed 10th. Ikoma performed exhibition in uneven bars and had a solid performance.
"[Elizabeth Durkac] had a really good meet. Her bars were strong," Galvin said. "I was really pleased to see her do so well on bars. That's been a strong event for her and she really pulled it together."
After two events only .025 separated the two teams, but the Terps extended their lead to 1.25 after the third rotation. The Tar Heels combined for a team score of 47.575 on balance beam. Nguyen won the event with a 9.825. Ikoma and Durkac tied for fifth after both scoring 9.600. Wright placed eighth with a 9.300. Meredith Magjuka and Jacob finished in eleventh with 9.100. Sophomore Elizabeth Lindley also performed balance beam.
"The thing we need to focus on to improve upon is our beam performance. We really only had one solid routine and that was Christine Nguyen. We need to be a little bit more consistent on that event. Practices looked better than the competition did on beam," Galvin said.
The Tar Heels won floor exercise with a 49.025 team total, but could not overcome the lead the Terps had built. Nguyen took her second event title of the afternoon with a 9.900. Brown and Jacob tied with two Maryland gymnasts for second place. All four gymnasts recorded 9.800 on floor exercise and Jacob set a new personal best. Jones secured sixth place with a 9.775 and Ikoma posted a 9.750 to tie for seventh place. Both Nguyen and Wright performed new skills in their floor routines in preparation for the rest of the season.
"Kara had a great meet on her first two events, on vault and on bars. Christine was really solid on beam and floor, very similar to our first meet this year," Galvin said of his two all-around competitors.
Nguyen won the all-around title with a 38.925 and Wright placed third with a 38.425.
"Overall a good meet," Galvin said. "It's only our third competition and we've got seven more meets to go to get some solid scores that will help us in our quest to qualify at NCAAs. Hopefully we'll have Zoya back in the lineup next week and that's going to make us a little stronger on vault. So overall I'm pleased. Pleased most about being back in Carmichael though.
"There were a lot of positives to take out of this meet. The thing we need to go back and work on is getting our beam up to the level of the other three events and that's what we'll be focusing on."
The Tar Heels travel down Interstate-40 next weekend to face EAGL rival NC State on Saturday, February 20 at 7 p.m.
Team Scores
The University of Maryland- 194.150
The University of North Carolina- 193.800
Vault- 48.500
1. Kara Wright- 9.925
4. Michelle Ikoma- 9.775
8. Karli Jones- 9.650
9. Elizabeth Durkac- 9.575
9. Morgan Evans- 9.575
12. Christine Nguyen- 9.450
Uneven Bars- 48.700
1. Elizabeth Durkac- 9.825
1. Kara Wright- 9.825
4. Krista Jasper- 9.750
4. Christine Nguyen- 9.750
10. Taylor Brown- 9.550
11. Meredith Magjuka- 9.400
Balance Beam- 47.575
1. Christine Nguyen- 9.825
5. Elizabeth Durkac- 9.600
5. Michelle Ikoma- 9.600
8. Kara Wright- 9.450
11. Kristina Jacob- 9.100
11. Meredith Magjuka- 9.100
Floor Exercise- 49.025
1. Christine Nguyen- 9.900
2. Taylor Brown- 9.800
2. Kristina Jacob- 9.800
6. Karli Jones- 9.775
7. Michelle Ikoma- 9.750
12. Kara Wright- 9.225
All-Around
1. Christine Nguyen- 38.925
3. Kara Wright- 38.425
Players Mentioned
