Ball State University
Florida
Gymnasts Host National Champion Florida
January 11, 2015 | Gymnastics
In front of an Irving Gym record crowd of 1,564, Ball State's women's gymnastics team suffered a 196.925 to 193.700 loss to two-time defending national champion Florida.
“We are very happy with the way we came out and performed in our season opener," Ball State head coach Joanna Saleem said. "It was great to have so many Ball State fans here cheering on the Cardinals. We had a solid performance against a two-time defending national championship team and that was an excellent way to start off the season. We are looking forward to having all of our fans return throughout the season to continue cheering us on here at home."
Ball State opened with a 48.70 on the vault, which tied for the 12th best mark in school history. The Cardinals also managed the same mark against the Gators in 2013 in Gainesville, Fla. Florida's Bridget Sloan, who was a part of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2008 and is a multiple collegiate All-American recorded a perfect 10.0 to win the event.
Denasiha Christian was the Cardinals' top finisher and placed fourth with a 9.875 mark. Christian's mark tied the sixth best score in school history and the best on the vault since Brittney Emmons did the same for the Cardinals in 2010.
On the bars, Ball State tallied a 47.825 and freshman Jordyn Penny was the top finisher with a tie for fifth and a score of 9.825.
The Cardinals moved to the balance beam and tallied a 48.625 mark, which tied for the 16th best mark in the school's record books. Ball State was led by the 9.80 of Jessica Leko, while Miranda Kuehl managed a 9.775. Leko placed fifth, while Kuehl was sixth in the event.
Ball State finished the meet on the floor and tallied a 48.550 mark. Christian once again led the Cardinals with a third place showing with a score of 9.850.
Penny was one of two all-around performers in the meet and she placed second with a score of 37.775. In addition to her 9.825 on the bars, she managed a 9.75 on the vault, a 9.15 on the beam and a 9.050 on the floor in her collegiate debut.
"We have some very competitive routines on our team and we are really excited our fans got to see that today," Saleem said. "We have put a lot of emphasis on only focusing on the things we can control. Our performance as a team was a solid confidence booster and this is the type of performance we can build on throughout the season. It is difficult to remain focused and composed throughout a meet when you lose one of your student-athletes to an injury during warm-ups and I am really proud of how these young ladies handled not only that but all the other distractions of the day."
Unfortunately for Florida, Sloan suffered an injury on the floor, while Ball State's Samantha Santos suffered an injury during warmups.
Ball State continues the 2015 season with a meet Sunday at Iowa, which also includes Michigan State.
Players Mentioned
