March 10, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After its best meet of the season where it tied a school-record team score on uneven bars en route to a season-high team score of 195.650, the University of Kentucky gymnastics team will wrap up its regular season with a east coast swing to William and Mary and Maryland starting Friday at 7 p.m. ET in Williamsburg, Va.
Kentucky (6-8, 1-5 Southeastern Conference) has three more chances to improve its Regional Qualifying Score, starting with the dual meet with William and Mary on Friday. UK then concludes its regular season with a quad-meet at Maryland with North Carolina and George Washington. The Wildcats final chance to improve its RQS will come at the SEC Championships on March 19.
“This is a big road trip for us and the girls know that,” UK assistant coach Heather Hite said. “We have a chance this weekend to put up some good scores and improve our RQS significantly. This team has made some serious progress over the last few weeks, but they are not satisfied yet. Hopefully, we can make the most of this trip and gain more momentum as we head into the SEC Championships next weekend.”
The Wildcats are coming off their best meet of the season, scoring a season high 195.650 in their home finale against Bowling Green and George Washington. Kentucky was solid on all four events at the meet, earning an event medalist on each event. Senior Andrea Mitchell paced the Wildcats with a career-high all-around score of 39.550, marking the highest all-around score for UK since Jenny Hansen in 1996.
Kentucky is ranked in the top 35 in the nation on each event, including a No. 26 ranking overall. The Wildcats are the 14th best team on vault with a RQS of 49.065, while being tied for 18th on floor at 48.985. UK is 26th in the nation on bars and 35th on balance beam. Individually, Kentucky has several athletes ranked among the top 25 in the country with senior Phylicia Reshard ranked 16th in the all-around and Mitchell ranked 24th. Mitchell is also tied for ninth on floor exercise with a RQS of 9.875.
UK will face four quality teams this weekend, starting with William and Mary. The Tribe enter the meet with an RQS of 188.105 and are ranked 59th on vault, 64th on bars, 59th on balance beam and 63rd overall. Maryland, George Washington and North Carolina are all three ranked in the top 50 in the nation on each event.
For more information on the Kentucky gymnastics team, visit UKathletics.com or follow “UKGymnastics” on Twitter and Facebook.
