Tar Heels Travel to Pitt, Temple

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina Gymnastics team (4-2) hits the road this weekend as they travel to Pittsburgh, Penn. for a tri-meet against East Atlantic Gymnastics League foe Pittsburgh (5-2) and Temple (5-6). The meet will take place in Fitzgerald Field House on the campus of Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

"We are looking forward to competing in Pittsburgh," said Carolina head coach Derek Galvin.
"The teams are very evenly matched. We want to have the same kind of performances we had on vault and bars and just bring our beam and floor up to that level.Training went well this week and we are eager to compete. "

Carolina enters the meet holding the top spot in the EAGL conference with an average score of 194.685 and ranked 28th in the nation. The Tar Heels hold the top spot in the EAGL conference on three events: vault, bars and floor. Carolina's floor routines continue to be its best, holding the 14th spot in the nation led by Khazia Hislop, the 17th ranked gymnast in the country on floor.

Last year, Carolina beat both Pittsburgh and Temple. Early in the season, Carolina topped the the Owls 195.300-194.375. The Tar Heels swept and had gymnasts on the top spot of the podium all four events. In the last regular season competition of the year, Carolina took down the Panthers 196.600-196.050. The Tar Heels' 196.600 was the sixth highest score in program history and the highest score since March 2004.

LAST WEEK:

Carolina Gymnastics put up a tough fight at the Diversity and Inclusion meet against NC State (195.200), with a score of 194.650 on Friday night in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels held higher scores in three events: vault, bars and floor. Carolina also posted 12 top-three finishes across all four events, highlighted by first-place finishes on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise. Carolina falls to 4-2 while NC State improves to 5-1.

"We were really pleased with the way vault went," Carolina head coach Derek Galvin said. "Bars was one of our strongest performances on that event, even looking back last year. We felt really good after those two events… [Beam] was the difference in the meet. On floor we had a couple uncharacteristic mistakes."

North Carolina opened the meet with its best performance of the year on vault. The Tar Heels finished with a season-high team score of 49.125. Stellar performances from juniors Hislop and Mikayla Robinson led the Heels. Carolina dominated the podium with the top three scores. Both Hislop and Robinson placed first with scores of 9.900, tying Hislop's career high and topping Robinson's previous career high of 9.850. Madison Hargrave also posted a career high, placing third with a strong 9.875. Freshman Drew Aldridge also set a career high on vault with a score of 9.750.

The Tar Heels then moved on to uneven bars, where Carolina scored a season-high 48.875. Rylie Dewhurst paced the Tar Heels with a first place score of 9.825. Three Tar Heels, Mekyllah Williams, Aldridge and Grace Donaghy, tied for third-place with scores of 9.775, a career high for Aldridge. Carolina finished with four Tar Heels in the top-three.

Carolina went into the third rotation on beam with a score of 98.000, with NC State trailing right behind at 97.500. Carolina struggled on beam, scoring 47.700. Jamie DeCicco led the Tar Heels with a score of 9.850, finishing in second-place. Representing the team on the podium was also Hislop, with a third-place score of 9.825. Alexis Allen also had a strong showing on beam, scoring 9.800.

Carolina finished their last rotation of the day on floor with four top-five finishes. The Tar Heels delivered the highest floor score of the day, a 48.950. Hislop took home first-place on floor with a score of 9.875, her second first-place finish of the day. Robinson and Hargrave tied for third-place, with a score of 9.825. Lily Dean's 9.800 provided them with another top-5 finish in fifth-place.

"We have to trust in the work that we have done on every event," Galvin stated. "That is going to be the message and the focus this week. We are doing the training. We have the physical part of it down but we are continuing to grow and get stronger mentally."

THE OPPONENTS:

Pittsburgh comes into the meet off its best week of the season thus far, setting season-highs on floor, bars and beam. Pitt is ranked 3rd in the EAGL conference, having defeated George Washington and falling to New Hampshire. The Panthers sit just three spots behind the Tar Heels in national rankings, holding the 31st spot. Pittsburgh strives on floor, holding the 27th ranking in the country.

"Pitt has some great individuals and a couple of really good all-rounders," Galvin stated. "Another strong coaching staff, all three coaches are experienced coaches that know how produce quality level gymnastics."

Temple is ranked 49th in the country. The Owls have struggled with consistency so far this season scoring in the 191's twice and the 194's twice this season. Temple's best events is on bars, as they hold the 41st ranking in the country.

"Temple has a new head coach Josh Nilson and he's a great coach," commented Galvin. "I know they are are getting good coaching but do not know much about the athletes themselves. They are doing well but I don't know if they have had a good meet yet where they have put it all together."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Drew Aldridge

Alexis Allen

Lily Dean

Jamie DeCicco

Rylie Dewhurst

Grace Donaghy

Madison Hargrave

Khazia Hislop

Mikayla Robinson

Mekyllah Williams