March 1, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Kentucky gymnastics team (6-7 overall, 0-6 conference) fell to the No. 20 West Virginia Mountaineers in WVU Coliseum Sunday afternoon, 195.425-194.650. The Cats had multiple season-highs on the day while also grabbing two event titles on the uneven bars and balance beam.
Three season-highs marked the first rotation for the Cats. Senior Natalie Rubinstein continued her dominance of the event with a season high-tying 9.875 and winning the event for the second consecutive meet. Junior Emilie Rymer grabbed a season-high 9.750 while sophomore Colleen Williams took a season best 9.675. Freshmen Storey Morris and Whitney Rose added 9.700’s to the team’s overall score. The marks put the Wildcats .250 behind the Mountaineers as they headed to the vault for the second rotation.
Sophomore Phylicia Reshard led off for Kentucky on vault with a season-high 9.750 followed by a duplicate score from Williams. Jasmine Minion, a sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., earned a 9.800. Minion has not scored below a 9.800 throughout the whole season, averaging a 9.833.
West Virginia scored a 49.050 on the uneven bars, the team’s best event of the afternoon, taking them to a .500 advantage over the Cats at the halfway point.
Kentucky started the floor exercise with a season-high 9.675 by freshman Whitney Rose who has only competed on the event twice in her career. The Wildcats were led by Minion and Hite, each scoring a 9.800. The Blue and White started to close the gap between UK and WVU, with only a .100 difference after three events.
In the final rotation, Kentucky took to the beam. West Virginia native, Hite, took the event’s title with a 9.850. But the overall team’s effort was not enough to over take the Mountaineers’ 49.150 on floor, which was led by a 9.950 from Mehgan Morris.
Junior Hillary Ferguson took third in the all-around with a 38.375.
“We didn’t count a fall, our mission was to come here and do that,” head coach Mo Mitchell said. “Our scores weren’t where I thought they should be, but sometimes you go to meets and it just doesn’t happen. I feel like we were hammered a little more than we should have been in comparison.”
Kentucky remains on the road for a meet in Iowa City, Iowa, against the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes. The meet is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET.
