Led by freshman Marie Case, the Kent State gymnastics team traveled to Bowling Green to open up Mid-American Conference play and finished with a 194.925-188.975 victory.

Case finished the conference-opener by winning her second all-around title of the season with a 39.125 score.

Although Case said the floor exercise was her best event of the day, she gives every event equal preparation.

“I do my mental routines before each event, so I make sure that (each event is) pretty equal,” she said.

Despite the large margin of victory, Brice Biggin, Kent State coach, said the team is not where they need to be right now.

Biggin said the team performed great on three of the four events but was highly disappointed in the team’s vault event.

The Flashes recorded the four highest scores on the event, but Biggin said they had to count two falls made by Rachel Guida and Rachel Goldenberg.

“We are too good of a vault team for us to go out and compete like that,” he said.

However, he was impressed by Goldenberg’s bounce back performance on the floor exercise event.

“Every event is different,” Goldenberg said. “You have to just put it out of your head even though obviously it was disappointing.”

Goldenberg’s 9.675 score on the floor exercise helped the team win the event.

Freshman Nikki Moore continues to step up for the Flashes as well. She scored a 9.650 on the vault, along with a 9.800 on the beam event.

Senior Christina Lenny just missed winning another all-around by recording a 38.925.

Biggin said he feels Christine Abou-Mitri is finally getting back to her usual form as well and had another strong showing.

Abou-Mitri posted scores of 9.850 on the uneven bars, 9.750 on beam and 9.775 on the floor exercise.

Kent State (7-1-1) looks to continue strong against conference opponents as the Flashes welcome Central Michigan to the M.A.C. Center on Feb. 12 at 1 p.m.

Contact Tyler Goddard at [email protected].