GymDawgs Return Home To Host Bruins
February 19, 2016 | Gymnastics
SEATTLE – After the GymDawgs best showing of the season at Utah, UW gymnastics returns home to host the No. 7 UCLA Bruins on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. PT. The meet will begin at 1 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
“We're happy with our meet at Utah, but we are always trying to get better,” head coach Joanne Bowers said. “The next step is for us to put together back-to-back complete meets, especially against another great team in our home arena.”
Following a season-high 196.250 at Utah, the GymDawgs hope to string together quality performances and are seeking consistency that has eluded UW so far this season.
“We're in a really good place,” Bowers said. “We just need to carry over the momentum from our last meet and a really good week of practice into another complete performance. That consistency has not been there for us yet, but we're confident going into Sunday that we can have another solid meet.”
Meet Information
Washington vs. UCLA
Alaska Airlines Arena
Sunday, Feb. 21 – 1 p.m. PT
TV: Pac-12 Networks - Follow on Twitter
Scouting the Bruins
UCLA is the No. 7-ranked team in the nation, with a No. 1 ranking on floor, No. 7 on beam, No. 10 on vault and No. 15 on bars. Danusia Francis and Sonya Meraz are ranked No. 8 and No. 12, respectively in the all-around. The Bruins are coming off a victory against OSU, where UCLA posted a season-high 197.475.
UW Event Previews – Overall ranking: No. 30; Average Score: 194.896; High Score: 196.250
Vault, No. 30, 48.750 avg. – Allison Northey leads the GymDawgs on vault with five top-3 finishes this season, including a third-place finish in last weekend's meet at Utah where UW posted a season-high 49.075. Alexandra Yacalis and Joslyn Goings have been consistent contributors as well, each posting season-high vault scores at Utah. Yacalis has scored a 9.825 or higher in each of the last three meets.
Bars, No. 39, 48.554 avg. – Kaitlyn Duranczyk has two event titles this season to lead the GymDawgs. Northey has won bars title to go with four top-3 finishes. Hailey Burleson and Zoey Schaefer are both mainstays in the bars lineup, and Jessica Nesis has increased her score in each of her four meets this season.
Beam, No. 24, 48.708 avg. – Northey and Goings combine to form a consistently strong duo to lead the GymDawgs beam lineup. Northey, ranked No. 14 nationally on the event, has won three titles and has five top-3 finishes, while Goings has one beam title and three top-3 finishes as the No. 38 beam worker in the country. Duranczyk has competed on beam in every meet this season as has freshman Malory Rose, who has scored a 9.7 or higher in five of six meets this season.
Floor, No. 28, 48.883 avg. – Northey has finished in the top-3 on floor in all six of the GymDawgs' meets this season and has two event titles. Yacalis posted a season-high 9.875 at Utah and has scores of 9.8 or higher in each of the last three meets. Goings has been consistently solid since she started competing on floor the last three meets. Schaefer and Duranczyk each met or exceeded season-highs at Utah as the GymDawgs scored a 49.300, their highest score on any event this season.
All-Around – Northey leads the GymDawgs with two all-around titles and has posted a 39.175 or better in five of six meets this season, including a personal- best 39.550 at Utah. Goings has flourished in her role as an all-arounder, posting scores north of 39.025 in each of her three meets in the all-around. Burleson has competed as an all-arounder in four meets this season, finishing with a personal-best 39.075 at the Metroplex Challenge.
Last Time Out: UW at Utah
The GymDawgs finished with a season-high 196.250 at Utah, led by season-high events scores on vault and floor and a personal-best 39.550 all-around score from Northey. The GymDawgs posted events scores above their season-average on all four events and had 14 season-high scores, including five each on vault and floor.
Next Up
The GymDawgs hit the road to take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday, Feb. 27. Follow the action on Twitter.
Notes:
- The GymDawgs have just one senior on the 2016 squad, two-time All-Pac-12 First Team all-arounder Allison Northey. Fellow senior Sheridan Metcalf is serving as a student coach for the GymDawgs this season.
- UW's freshman class consists of three gymnasts: Malory Rose (Orlando, Fla.), Kristyn Hoffa (San Marcos, Calif.) and Monica Riley (Irving, Texas).
- UW head coach Joanne Bowers is in her 10th season with the Huskies.
- The Huskies added assistant coach Stephen Buckner, who was previously serving as the strength and conditioning coach at the University of Alabama. He helped the Crimson Tide to back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012 when he was on the staff. Former assistant coach Elise Ray was promoted to associate head coach. The addition of Buckner and promotion of Ray followed the departure of former UW associate head coach David McCreary, who is now an assistant at the University of Arizona.
- The Huskies took seventh place at the 2015 Pac-12 Championships with a 196.000, their highest score at the conference championships in the last four years. UW gymnastics team-high in 2015 was 196.600, recorded at UC Davis.
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