Titans Have Numerous Season Bests In Washington

Plenty of season bests were recorded by UW-Oshkosh as the Titans finished third behind a pair of scholarship programs during a four-team women's gymnastics meet at Seattle Pacific University (Wash.) on Friday (Feb. 15).

NCAA Division I United States Air Force Academy (Colo.) won the quadrangular with a score of 194.200 while Division II Seattle Pacific University finished second at 192.600. UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater, both non-scholarship Division III members, placed third and fourth with scores of 189.100 and 185.025, respectively. UW-Whitewater is the defending National Collegiate Gymnastics Association champion.

UW-Oshkosh accumulated its highest team score of the year by recording season-best marks in each of the meet's four event categories. The Titans counted 48.275 team points on the balance beam, 47.575 in the floor exercise, 47.025 on the vault and 46.225 on the uneven bars.

Kaira Hammond paced UW-Oshkosh by finishing second on the balance beam with a score of 9.825 and sixth on the uneven bars with a figure of 9.70. Both of Hammond's scores were season bests.

The Titans had three other top-16 finishers on the balance beam as Olivia Keller placed fourth with a score of 9.775, Baylee Tkaczuk ninth at 9.75 and Alyssa Nore 15th at 9.50. 

Emily Gilot achieved a high grade for UW-Oshkosh on the vault with her third-place and season-best score of 9.675. 

In the floor exercise, Keller led four UW-Oshkosh top-16 finishers with her seventh-place and season-high score of 9.625. The Titans also had Jessica Bernardo and Rahdea Jarvis finish 11th with scores of 9.575 and Bailey Finin 16th at 9.425.

UW-Oshkosh's uneven bars listings concluded with Bailee Hardy's 14th-place score of 9.425 and Bernardo's 16th-place mark of 9.125.

Bernardo also added a fifth-place and season-best score of 37.400 in the all-around competition. 

Winning outright event titles on Friday were Cam Barber and Anna Salamone of the United States Air Force Academy and Darian Burns of Seattle Pacific University. Barber won the balance beam with a score of 9.85 while Salamone finished first on the uneven bars with a mark of 9.90. Burns defeated four other contestants in the all-around competition with her winning score of 39.075. 

Burns and Salamone shared first place on the vault with their scores of 9.70 while Burns and United States Air Force Academy's Tyler Davis tied for the floor exercise title with their counts of 9.85.

The Titans travel to UW-Whitewater next Sunday (Feb. 24) for a three-team with the host Warhawks and UW-Eau Claire.