Flashes excited for meet against No. 22 Pioneers

Two weekends after defeating No. 25 North Carolina State, the Kent State gymnastics team is looking to hold its own against an even higher-ranked team.

The Flashes (2-2) will travel to Denver for a meet tomorrow against No. 22 Denver, Alaska Anchorage and Winona State.

“It should be a good meet, but Denver is a really good team,” sophomore Christina Lenny said. “It should show us better where we stand in higher competition.”

The meet will be the first time that Kent State will take on Alaska Anchorage and Winona State, while the Flashes won their only meet against the Pioneers in 1991.

“Our focus has still been all along that we need to go out and compete very well as a team and make sure that we go out and score well,” Kent State coach Brice Biggin said. “If after that happens we end up winning the meet, great.”

Kent State is most excited to compete with Denver (7-4). Biggin hopes that the team will be able to show its full potential against the Pioneers.

“They are a team that has qualified for the NCAA Championships two out of the last four years,” Biggin said. “So they are going to be a good team.”

Winona won its last meet against Wisconsin-Stout, thanks to a strong performance on beam.

Kent State, however, struggled to stay on top last Friday during its rotation on beam against Ball State. While Kent State won beam with a score 47.750 to 47.300, the gymnasts and coaches know the women are capable of a better performance.

“We went out and had a pretty good week on beam,” Biggin said. “The frustrating thing is that we know that they were capable of doing that last week.”

After a trial run Wednesday, the team is confident of its ability to excel on beam.

“We had a beam pressure set (Wednesday) and we hit 8 out of 8,” sophomore Christine Abou-Mitri said. “And that’s a lot better than 3 out of 8.”

Alaska Anchorage also had a difficult time during its last meet against Centenary, losing 190.625-185.675.

This week’s practice and goal for the Flashes is to perform as well in competition as they do in practice.

“Our main goal has got to be, and we’ve talked to them about it, is just doing what they do every day in practice,” Biggin said. “Not pushing harder, not trying harder, and, at the same time, not holding back when they get into a meet.”

Contact sports reporter Pamela Crimbchin at [email protected].