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February 08, 2005
Gymnasts continue to dominate
Aaron Swanum
Sports Editor
In their quest for another trip to the national championships, Hamline’s gymnastics team has started and stayed on top this season, winning two meets and finishing behind two Division I teams in their third meet.
Hamline has beat all their Division III opponents thus far this season and if their success continues the rest of the season looks to be a promising one for the Pipers.
The Pipers opened the season with a win against UW-Whitewater, with four different Hamline gymnasts leading the team in each of the four events in the Hamline win.
Senior Melanie Axvig paced the Pipers on the vault with a score of 8.9, and junior Emily Wind scored a 9.1 on the uneven bars. Caitlin Goodin scored a 9.55 in the floor exercise, and junior Renae Stinar scored a 9.175 on the balance beam.
As a team, Hamline scored best in the floor exercise, where both Goodin and senior Kristin Driscoll scored better than a 9.0. Driscoll scored a 9.275 and Hamline scored 44.95 in the event as a team.
Hamline received scored of 44.4 in the balance beam, 3.45 in the uneven bars and 42.05 in the vault. The Pipers won the meet by a score of 174.85ą169.825.
In mid-January, the Pipers took a dual meet win over UW-Oshkosh by a score of 175.025ą168.2.
Goodin continued her strong start to the season by hauling in an all-around score of 35.075 to help lead
Hamline to the team win. She turned in the highest floor exercise of the meet with a 9.275 and also posted an 8.3 in the balance bream, 8.5 on the uneven bars, and 9.1 in the vault.
Hamline had their best success of the night on the vault, scoring a 45.025 as a team. Senior Ashley
Calhoon led the Pipers with a 9.15 on the vault, and Axvig and Goodin also notched up scores of 9.0 or higher.
Wind scored an 8.7 on the uneven bars to lead the team, while Axvig and Driscoll each had a 9.15 on the balance beam.
Goodin’s 35.075 in the all-around competition beat the Titans’ Vanessa Virbitsky (34.45) and Kim Edson (32.375).
The Pipers ended January with a strong performance at the Iowa State Quad, where they finished third behind some strong Div. I programs.
Hamline finished with a score of 175.075 to take third in the meet and finished behind Div. I programs Iowa State (195.575), ranked 10th nationally, and Iowa (192.4). Hamline defeated the only other Div. III program, Gustavus (173.75). In NCAA gymnastics there is no Div. II gymnastics, only Div. I and Div. III.
At the Iowa State Quad, four different Pipers led the team in each of the four events.
Senior Stephanie Sasik paced the team with a 9.05 in the vault, and Wind totaled a 9.025 in the uneven bars. Axvig led the team with an 8.925 in the balance beam, and Driscoll scored a 9.025 in the floor exercise.
Hamline scored the highest in the vault, scoring 44.625 as team. The Pipers defeated Gustavus in three of the four events.
The Hamline gymnasts are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Best of Minnesota meet, which will be held at the University of Minnesota at 7:00 p.m.
Posted by msveum at February 8, 2005 04:26 PM