The Kent State Gymnastics team scored a season-high 49.425 on the floor, finishing second in the Northern Illinois Tri-Meet.

The Flashes scored a total of 195.025 to beat Simpson College. Simspon scored 185.175.

It was not enough to beat Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois, who narrowly won by a score of 195.375.

The team moved to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.

KSU has yet to score under a 49.000 on the floor this season, with senior Karlie Franz tallying a season-high 9.925 for the team. Franz has now scored at least a 9.900 on the floor for three straight meets.

“She did a great floor routine and that’s something that we’ve come to expect from her,” coach Brice Biggin said. “Karlie as a senior right now is stepping up and doing the job that she wants to be doing.”

Another notable performance on the floor was senior Rachel DeCavitch who scored a 9.900, matching her career high. DeCavitch accumulated a score of 39.175, leading all gymnasts for the second week in a row.

“She’s been just a beacon of strength,” Biggin said. “To be able to compete all around as many times as she has speaks volume about the type of athlete that she is.”

Every KSU gymnast put up a score of at least 9.800 on the floor.

Kent State’s second highest scoring event was on the vault with an output of 48.600. DeCavitch recorded a season-high of 9.825.

The beams were KSU’s third best area with a total score of 48.550. Sophomore Alyssa Guns led the team with a season-high 9.825 and sophomore Grace Wehry who recorded her own season-high of 9.775.

The team’s lowest scoring event was on the bars with a total score of 48.450. DeCavitch once again led all the Flashes with a score of 9.800.

After the game, Biggin voiced his displeasure with the team’s performance.

“Besides floor, we didn’t really perform very well all day,” he said. “Our lead-off routines were not good. We started the meeting off terribly. We pretty much gave up the meet in the first two routines of the day. It didn’t give us any momentum.”

When asked what the team could do to fix the slow start, Biggin said that the team needs to be more “physically and emotionally ready-to-go.”

“We certainly have not made it easy for ourselves,” Biggin said. “If we want to win a regular season championship, we’re gonna have to fight a lot harder than we did today.”

The Flashes’ next meet is against Bowling Green where they will compete against the Falcons as part of conference play.

The meet is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. at Bowling Green.

Michael Neenan is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].