LEXINGTON ? Coming off a meet in which it scored season highs on vault and floor, the Kentucky gymnastics team hits the road for the second straight week as it travels to Texas Woman?s University for a quad meet that also includes Bowling Green and Southeast Missouri.
A week ago, the Wildcats topped the 194 plateau for the third time in four meets after blistering runs in vault and floor. The floor score of 49.250 was the sixth best in school history while the 49.200 on vault was the best in head coach Mo Mitchell?s four-year tenure.
Freshman Emilie Rymer and senior Krystle Cook led the way for UK. Rymer shattered her previous career high with a 39.225 in the all-around, including a title-winning 9.925 on vault. She shared that crown with Cook, who also won the floor title with a 9.9. Sophomore Heather Hite matched Cook on the floor to earn a piece of the meet title.
Kentucky?s vault line up is much improved this season with Cook and Rymer coming on strong, to go along with steady senior Lucy Burgin. The Birmingham native has tallied scores of 9.825 or better in four of her last six meets on vault.
Rymer has steadily improved all season to become a force in the all-around. She cracked 39 for the first time a month ago against LSU before breaking that mark last week at Ohio State. In Columbus, her vault score and floor score (9.85) were career bests.
Hite continued to excel not only on the floor, but also on beam where she anchors UK?s lineup. She has four straight scores of 9.8 or better on the event with only one fall on the year.
Just behind Rymer and Cook last week on the floor was Hillary Ferguson, who has become the Wildcats consistently great in the event. She has four straight meets with at least a 9.85 on floor, including a 9.875 twice in that span.
Bowling Green is coming off a third-place finish two weeks ago in the CAT Classic hosted by Missouri. The Falcons score was hampered by a tough beam lineup that saw four of six gymnasts fall.
TWU and SEMO squared off in a conference duel meet just two weeks ago in Cape Girardeau, Mo. That night, the Southeast Missouri knocked off the defending Midwest Independent Conference Champion Pioneers. Since then, Texas Woman?s dropped a decision on the road to ninth-ranked Oklahoma.
The meet is the second of four straight on the road for UK before the Wildcats head to the SEC Championships at North Little Rock, Ark., on March 30.
