Three Kent State gymnasts finished in the top five for All-Around scoring in the Lindsey Ferris Invitational at George Washington University. 

The Flashes had either won or tied for first place in each event. Rachel DeCavitch, Karlie Franz and Olivia Amodei finished in first, second and third respectively in the All-Around, helping the Flashes secure first place over GW, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. 

“Number one, I’m really proud of the girls. I think they did an unbelievable job of bouncing back after the first meet. … They came out (to) fight and then they stayed fighting all day. They backed each other up as a team and that’s what you want to see as a coach,” Coach Brice Biggin said.

Two Flashes were in a five-way tie for first place for the uneven parallel bars event; Madison Trott and DeCavitch. They tied with GW’s Olivia Raymond, Simone Banen and Deja Chambliss with a score of 9.800.  

The Flashes finished with an overall score of 195.325, 2.1 points higher than the second-place GW. UPenn finished in third while Cornell placed in fourth. This match was Kent State’s first win on the season putting the team at 1-1, 0-1 in Mid-American Conference play.

“There were a little bit of nerves, but you know, our kids did a really good job of staying within themselves, staying confident and just kind of building off of one another. Each kid hit their routine and as you continue to do that, it just builds the confidence in each other. So once again, great way to finish the meet,” Biggin said. 

DeCavitch finished with an overall score of 39.400 – a 9.875 on vault, 9.800 on the bars, 9.875 on the beam and 9.850 on her floor routine. 

DeCavitch tied for first place with GW’s Deja Chambliss in the vault event. She also came in first place in the balance beam results with a score of 9.875, .50 points higher than Simone Banen, who finished in second place.

Kent State’s best event was the floor event. DeCavitch finished in first place with a score of 9.850 while her teammates Franz and Amodei finished for a tie in second place. The two tied with a score of 9.800. 

“The job that they did was really unbelievable. For three freshmen to be competing that much. Number one, it says a great deal about them as athletes, but to be able to compete the way they did. It’s not surprising because we know how talented they are, but it’s still impressive because it’s so difficult sometimes for freshmen that come in and jump right into competing that much and not only competing, but making routine the way they did,” Biggin said.

The Flashes will be back on the road for their next invitational traveling to Denton, Texas for the Texas Women’s University Quad. Kent State will compete against TWU, Lindenwood University and University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. 

Contact Amanda Levine at [email protected].