Alban Places 2nd In All-Around; Women's Gymnastics Takes 3rd Place At New Hampshire

Saturday, January 26

Durham, NH

4:00 p.m.

Temple University

190.225

195.650

University of New Hampshire

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Alban Places 2nd In All-Around; Women's Gymnastics Takes 3rd Place At New Hampshire

1.26.13 | Women's Gymnastics

Results

DURHAM, N.H. – Temple Women's Gymnastics continued to show improvement as a team, as it posted a season-best team score of 190.225 on Saturday at a tri-meet hosted by the University of New Hampshire. The Owls' third place score ranked behind meet-host New Hampshire (195.650) and Brown (191.750).

Head coach Aaron Murphy has had several instances already this season, where he has had to make a sudden adjustment to one of his event lineups. Just how it has worked out in the earlier meets, his alternate gymnasts once again found a way to come up in a big way.

Leading up to the vault event, senior Jean Alban was called upon to be an alternate when one of her teammates had to be pulled after sustaining an injury.

Alban posted a sensational performance for the Owls by working the all around on Saturday, as she took a second place score among all four-event gymnasts with a 38.150, placing her only behind New Hampshire's Austyn Forbes (39.175).

For the third consecutive meet, Temple's strongest event was on the balance beam.

Sophomore Alexis Arena led the Owls with an impressive performance, setting a new career-high with her score of 9.825, which was also strong enough to hold up as the second-best score in the event.

Nearly everyone in the beam line up set season-high scores, helping the Owls total a score of 48.600. which was only .300 short of meet champ New Hampshire's beam score.

Sophomore Taylor Rakus and junior Heather Zaniewski, both of whom have been named the ECAC Coaches' Choice over the last two weeks, demonstrated solid performances on beam, leading them to like scores of 9.700, which marked a new season-best for both gymnasts. Junior Sylvie Borschel also contributed with a big effort, as she earned her season-high score of 9.775 on the apparatus.

On vault, sophomores Lauren Capone and Stephanie Verry led the Owls with like scores of 9.650. While Capone tied her season-best mark in the event, Zaniewski set a new one for this season with her score of 9.425.

Temple had a good showing on the mat during the floor exercise.

Verry led the Owls with a score of 9.725, which stood as the fifth-best among all performers. Arena's routine earned her a 9.675, helping her set a new career-high, while Walch put up her season-best with a 9.650, which tied Alban for 10th place overall. Sophomore Brittanie DeMeno rounded out the Owls lineup with her 12th place score of 9.575.

Leading the Owls on bars, Alban was given a 9.475, allowing her to set a new season-high on the apparatus. Senior Ebone Grant and freshman Heather Popper also set season-best marks with a 9.475 and 9.150, respectively.

Temple (0-12) will return to action next Saturday when it hosts its only home meet of the season. The annual Ken Anderson Memorial Invitational will get underway at 1:00 p.m. in the main gymnasium of Pearson-McGonigle Hall, where the Owls will welcome West Chester, Ursinus and Bridgeport. For those that cannot attend the meet, a webcast will be provided on OwlAccess.