Women's Gymnastics Finish Close Second at Liberty Classic :: Owls fall just .175 points short of first place from McGonigle Hall

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple women's gymnastics team (4-8) posted a 185.550 to William & Mary's 185.725 as they narrowly missed out on winning their second consecutive Liberty Classic in McGonigle Hall on the campus of Temple University. The Saturday afternoon invitational also featured Ursinus, West Chester, and Wilson College. Competing in her first NCAA competition as an all-arounder, freshman Katie Canning won the all-around with a stellar 38.400.

Temple started the afternoon on a bye, while William & Mary struggled through balance beam having to count several falls. Ursinus faced the uneven bars in the first rotation, and managed some solid efforts from their key contributors.

In the second rotation, Temple started on vault and were lead off by junior Nicole Catrambone's 9.500 (nice laid out Tsukahara). Senior co-captain Alycia Petitto contributed a solid handspring tucked-front to set up Canning's (Hristakieva) 9.625, and senior Desireé Meredith's 9.675 (layout Tsuk with a half).

After their first rotation, Temple amassed a season-high 47.750 to put them in the lead over Ursinus and William & Mary.

Temple moved to the uneven bars, where Canning lead off with a 9.475 (nice bail to handstand). Sophomore Danielle Viens (9.325) missed a connection but covered nicely with a high and tight double tuck dismount. Junior Christine McNeil hit picture-perfect handstands and swung a solid anchoring routine en route to a 9.425 for the Temple Owls.

After two events, the Temple Owls 94.175 lead William & Mary's 91.450. Ursinus' 90.850 had them in third place, a position in which they held for the remainder of the competition.

Temple went to the dreaded balance beam, and had to count falls from sophomore Nina Oteri (Shushonova; great ff-lo and Rudi dismount, however), and junior Winter Sneed (under-rotated ff-ff-lo; solid switch-leap to back pike). Meredith unveiled a difficult front-pike mount, but broke her connection of back tuck-back tuck to keep her score down to 8.800. Canning seemed unraveled by her previous teammates wobbles, and nailed a confident set (front tuck mount; one-arm ff-back pike; stuck 3/2 dismount) for a career high 9.750. Junior Natasha Crawford anchored with an incredible routine (ff-ff-lo; gainer full off the side) for a solid 9.575.

The final rotation saw Temple take to the floor exercise, and William & Mary to their best event, the uneven bars. Nikki Berrian got things started off with a 9.250 (nice 3/2-punch front dismount), and Viens mounted with a great double tuck before stepping out of bounds on her second pass of front layout-front layout (8.725).

Junior co-captain Caitlin Egan, who had been in a walking boot earlier in the day, started her floor routine off with a great whip-half to front 1/1, but then appeared to roll her ankle following a dance combination. Oddly enough, it was the other foot that was injured, and she had to be carried off of the floor. Regardless of the mishap, you have to respect the guts and determination of this incredible student-athlete.

Oteri landed short on her opening double tuck, but came back with excellent presentation and a Rudi dismount for 8.825. Once again it was the freshman Canning who brought the momentum back up for the Owls with a big double-pike mount and whip-3/2 dismount for 9.550. In the final routine of the evening, Sneed lit up the crowd with her infectious smile and clean lines, but even those couldn't erase a short double pike mount for an even 9.000 score.

Meanwhile, William & Mary were swinging top-notch bar routines, lead by Tricia Long (9.650) and Stevie Waldman's reverse-hecht and double layout dismount (9.800).

At the end of the afternoon, Temple's troubles in the floor proved to be the difference as they came up short by a mere .175. Ursinus finished the day in third with a 183.200, followed by West Chester University's 169.750 and Wilson College's 163.525.

"As a team, we had a much better showing here today than we've had in our last three competitions," added second-year head coach Aaron Murphy. "Over the next two weeks, the coaching staff will have a chance to re-evaluate where our problem areas are, and head down to Towson for our next meet."

With regards to Canning, Murphy noted that, "Being first all-around in her first NCAA meet as an all-arounder shows me what she's capable of. Today was a great start for what we (the coaching staff) feel is going to be a very tough all-arounder.

After the competition, Canning was proud of her achievements, but was quick to mention that "My teammates and the fans here in McGonigle Hall were great. I couldn't have done it without them cheering me on."

The Owls will enjoy a weekend off before heading down to Maryland for a meet against Towson on Friday, February 15th for the Shelley Calloway Towson Invitational.

Fans can watch an archived version of the Liberty Classic right here on www.owlsports.com.