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Life > Athletics > Gymnastics > 2/29/08
PIONEERS FALTER IN LOSS AT OU
Meet Results
NORMAN, Oklahoma (February 29) – The Texas Woman’s University Pioneers struggled on Friday night in Norman, Oklahoma, scoring a 189.350 in a dual meet loss to the University of Oklahoma.
The Sooners, the sixth-ranked team in the nation, fared much better than TWU, winning all five individual events (vault, bars, beam, floor, and all-around) and recording a team total of 195.650 to remain unbeaten (15-0) in 2008.
The Pioneers less than spectacular team mark, their second lowest score of the season, snapped a four-meet winning streak for the squad and came less than one week after the team posted a stellar 193.850 in a dominating win over Centenary College last Saturday night.
“We didn’t perform - plain and simple,” said a frustrated Frank Kudlac, TWU head coach, after the meet. “This was a critical competition for our team because we were trying to drop a 190.900 road score earlier this season and improve our regional qualifying score (RQS). Unfortunately, we didn’t get it done.”
 Early on Friday night, it appeared as if TWU was going to give the mighty Sooners all they could handle. The Pioneers went six-for-six on bars and vault, and after two rotations, trailed OU by just a point and a half, 97.925-96.425. Senior Courtney Arno-Templet had the best bar routine of the meet for TWU, scoring a 9.825 to tie for second on the event behind the Sooners’ Hollie Vise. TWU senior Nicole Poling (pictured) grabbed second place on vault (behind OU’s Kiara Redmond-Sturms) with a mark of 9.825.
“Vault was awesome, bars was awesome,” explained Kudlac. “I don’t think we could have asked for a better start. We were on a 194.00 pace after two rotations.”
The Pioneers’ fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse when their first three competitors on floor exercise fell. Despite a solid score of 9.725 from their anchor on the event, senior Amie Boles, the Pioneers’ team floor score was just 46.375.
TWU’s struggles continued when they closed the meet on beam. Three out of the Pioneers’ first four beam workers fell, and a respectable 9.700 from Arno-Templet on the event went for naught as the team tallied a meager 46.550 beam total.
“Honestly, we just weren’t very good on floor and beam. We had so much momentum after vault, but we just couldn’t keep it going. I’m disappointed, probably more so than I’ve ever been about a regular-season meet in my thirty years of coaching,” stated Kudlac.
TWU will try to regain its form this Sunday afternoon, March 2, when they host the University of Iowa in a 2:00 p.m. dual meet at Kitty Magee Arena. Sunday’s event will be the Pioneers’ annual “Think Pink” meet, with both TWU and Iowa wearing pink leotards and numerous of activities taking place in an effort promote breast cancer awareness.
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