Dukes notch season high score in final home meet

The women's gymnastics team ended its home schedule Friday night with a dual meet against the University of North Carolina. Though the Tar Heels had the higher score, 193.750-191.025, no one would ever have known it by looking at the Dukes' faces after the competition. JMU's team effort reeled in the highest score of the season for the Dukes.

"I would say this was our best meet of the year as far as us being a team, as far as consistency of our team from event to event and individual to individual," coach Roger Burke said. "And as a whole, this was a pretty good showcase of us as a team."

Senior Bethany Weir said, "We made our 191 and that was a big deal for us because we have been working all year and we've been getting 189s, and 190 was something we really wanted and we got it, so we're really happy with that."

On the vault, UNC's Monica Middleton and Olivia Trusty shared first place in the competition with a 9.850. The Dukes' sophomore Erin Fitzgerald was the top JMU finisher in the event with a personal best 9.650. Junior Janelle DiOrio, sophomores Erin Dooley and Jackie Rivers and freshman Amanda Beltz all added personal bests on the vault as well.

A personal best 9.675 on the uneven parallel bars helped sophomore Nicole DiFilippo earn third place for JMU. Fitzgerald and sophomores Jennifer Robinson and Kati Elder notched personal bests on the bars.

The Dukes shined on the balance beam and Fitzgerald took first place with her personal best, a 9.900. Kati Elder, DiOrio and junior Lauren Shear placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively. DiFilippo also finished in a tie for seventh with her personal-best score in the event.

JMU finished the evening on the floor exercise. Fitzgerald nabbed third place with a score of 9.875. Dooley and Kati Elder tied for fourth with scores of 9.825. Shear finished fifth with a 9.750. All four marks were personal bests.

"Floor was awesome," Burke said. "We started off with (junior) Carri (Elder), who's our school record holder who has been out for the whole year with a foot injury and we were able to get her back in the lineup … It was a great start and we just built from there." Carri Elder finished with a 9.700 for ninth place.

The Dukes ended the meet satisfied with the way they worked together as a team.

"We really pulled together and kept our confidence and our spirit up throughout the whole meet, and it ended up turning out really well," senior Amy Keister said. "It was our highest score for the season, so we were all very happy and a lot of us had some personal bests so that was real good too."

Shear said, "The team's effort was unbelievable. We've had this coming all week. We've been working our butts off in the gym.

"It's been a rough season. We had a good start, but then we have been plagued by many, many injuries to some of our starters and so we have had to dig deeper in our lineup. We have just had trouble putting it all together and this was the first meet that it all came together."

Burke said the meet at George Washington University March 6 is what helped get this team focused. He said, "We had a pretty rough go at George Washington a week and a half ago and I knew that it really helped to get everybody focused toward where we should be, which was our performance (Friday). It was a really good all-around team effort. We had some individuals that really started to click."

The meet also marked the final home meet for the seniors, Keister and Weir. Both were honored before the meet and were happy to end their final home meet the way the team did.

"It was just really nice that the team was so together and so happy for each other," Keister said. "That was the best part — that I was able to have that in my final home meet."

Weir said, "It was a lot of fun. I'm really going to miss the place and it's very bittersweet."

Burke was happy for the seniors as well. He said, "It was good to see it all come together at a home meet, especially for the seniors on the last home meet."

JMU will end its season with the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships Saturday in Williamsburg.

"We're excited because we like the gym at [the College of] William & Mary, so we'll be comfortable going in," Keister said.

Burke said, "If we could replicate this, which I think is a good possibility, we could have a chance to be competitive and that's what we want to do."