Temple University Athletics
Women's Gymnastics Intra-squad Recap
12.22.06 | Women's Gymnastics
Dec. 22, 2006
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple women's gymnastics team held their first major intrasquad this past Wednesday at their practice gym in Pearson Hall. The exhibition meet pitted the experienced upper classmen against the strong sophomore and freshman classes. The level of competition was high, as the women were ready to show first-year head coach Aaron Murphy that they were ready for the upcoming competitive season.
The women started the afternoon on vault with several solid landings. Juniors Desiree Meredith and Nicole Catrambone blasted clean layout Tsuks while senior Noelle Moore stuck a high Tsuk 1/1. Alycia Petitto, celebrating a birthday that day, and senior co-captain Sarah Liebowitz showed clean handspring fronts (tucked), while fellow captain Jill Kornett threw a pencil straight layout Yurchenko. Sophomore Winter Sneed (nice layout Tsuk), showed a high level of difficulty, including several Yurchenko entries. Freshman Tiffany Shepherd vaulted a confident layout Yurchenko 1/1. Interesting side note: Shepherd, along with fellow freshman Nina Oteri, had been coached in their club days by the inventor of the vault, 1983 World All-Around champion Natalia Yurchenko, of the former Soviet Union.
The Owls moved to their next event, the uneven bars, and showed major improvements since last season, especially in the area of their handstand work. Junior Christine McNeill spun a clean Healy to straddle-back handstand, but opted to leave out her dismount as she is recovering from an achilles tendon tear. Co-captains Kornett and Liebowitz caught their difficult releases (piked jaeger, Tkatchev), with the latter standing up a high double-layout dismount. Petitto, who was without a bar routine when she arrived at Temple, caught a big Tkatchev and showed a clean Pak salto to the low bar. Freshman Monica Zuber swung a clean giant 1/1 to double pike dismount, followed by Sneed, who unveiled a new Hindorff release, but on the low bar. Although she missed the re-grasp, she showed incredible amplitude on the skill. Sophomore Nikki Berrian threw a huge Geinger and double-tuck dismount (both from a giant 1/1), to set up Shepherd's equally difficult set, highlighted by a clean bail to handstand to the low bar. Sophomore Natasha Crawford showed very strong handstands and pirouetting work as well.
The dreaded balance beam was next, and the apparatus produced several falls. However, the women showed great potential and very strong leap and jump combinations on the event. Petitto did a unique dismount combo of wolf-3/4 to immediate tucked 1/1 off (facing sideways), and Meredith mounted the beam with an aggressive punch front to wolf jump. Catrambone, who took a scary fall after a back tuck, showed her true grit by remounting the beam and finished with a strong set. Shepherd landed a nice front-aerial, while fellow freshman Oteri showed amazing amplitude on all of her leaps, but stumbled after her three element series of bhs-bhs-layout. Sneed had the same fate after her three element pass, but showed great poise during a switch-straddle-straddle-tuck 3/4; jump series. After beam, Petitto was quick to acknowledge, "The team just needs to put more pressure on themselves to hit beam. We're hitting in practice, but today was not a clear indication of what we can really do here."
Floor exercise was last, and the team proved their resilience by turning in plenty of clean routines packed with big tumbling. Junior Caitlin Egan led things off with a nice whip-double full. Petitto and Kornett stood up big double pike mounts, and Meredith added a powerful whip-double tuck. Shepherd capped off her day with a solid double pike mount and excellent front tumbling, to set up fellow classmate Ashley Nehiley, who showed a high double tuck of her own, followed by a new second pass of back 3/2-punch front. Sneed finished her day with a captivating routine and big tumbling. Sneed's strength is her dance, as she completely lit up the gym with her infectious smile. Sneed, along with Noelle Moore will add a powerful 1-2 punch to the end of this floor lineup.
At the end of the day, the girls felt very confident with how they performed at this point of the pre-season. "We're doing a much higher level of difficulty this year, in comparison to last," said Kornett. Head coach Aaron Murphy was very pleased with the performance, especially from the upper classmen. "They (upper classmen) have such a strong presence, and our freshmen were quite impressive today. At this point, I feel very confident that this team will have a successful season."
The Temple women's gymnastics team kicks off their season at Ursinus, before hosting Rutgers for their first home meet of the season. The meet against Rutgers is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 24 in McGonigle Hall.
