Gymnastics Travels to Ohio State for Tri-Meet
2/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Live Stats | Live Video | Meet Notes
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh gymnastics team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to face off against Ohio State and for the second time this season, Eastern Michigan. The tri meet is set to begin at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27.
MULTIMEDIA
Live stats and a live video feed will be available for viewing during the meet.
SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers (5-11, 2-4 EAGL) trail Ohio State (3-5, 0-4 B10) in the all-time meetings, 4-19. Eastern Michigan (12-2, 4-0 MAC) now leads Pitt, 5-4, all-time after defeating the Panthers in their opening meet of the 2016 season.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend Pitt dispatched Texas Woman’s University, 194.375-192.550, thanks in large part to a season-high showing on vault where the Panthers posted a 48.700.
Pitt was able to have a gymnast finish first in each event as well as the all-around. Junior Tracey Pearson produced career highs on vault (9.875), beam (9.800), and all-around (39.175), which led to finishing first in the all-around.
Senior Miya Dotson produced a career high on bars (9.850) to grab a first place finish, as well as tying for first on floor with Pearson. Senior Lindsay Offutt took home the beam title with a 9.925, which tied her season-high.
OFF THE CHARTS OFFUTT
Senior Lindsay Offutt is having the best season of her Pitt career thus far. The White Lake, Mich., product shattered the program mark in the all-around, when she scored a career-high 39.575 versus Towson and Penn two weeks ago. Offutt broke the previous record of 39.400, which was owned by Danielle Alba set in 1999.
Offutt took home the beam title this past weekend with a 9.925 against Texas Woman’s University. She also tied for second on bars with a 9.825 that helped her propel into second in the all-around with a total of 39.075.
On the season, Offutt has 17 first-place finishes including her top spots in the all-around. Currently Offutt ranks 19th in the nation with a regional qualifying score of 39.110.
EAGL WEEKLY HONORS
The Panthers are continuing to make their presence felt in the EAGL weekly honors, as Pearson took home EAGL gymnast of the week, while for the second week in a row, Dotson earned Specialist of the week for their performances against TWU.
NATIONAL RANKS
Pitt is tied for 39th in the nation on floor with an RQS of 48.710. They fall right behind that on bars in the 43rd spot (48.300 RQS) and rank 47th in the all-around (193.085). The Panthers round out the top-50 vault with an RQS of 48.270.
Qualification for regional competition is based on a team's and an all-around competitor's six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score (RQS), the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged. Teams with a "0.0" RQS have not yet competed enough meets to compute an RQS.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State enters the meet with a 3-5 overall record and their regional qualifying score of 195.110 currently sits them at 28th in the country.
The Buckeyes posted a season high of 196.350 in a tri-meet with Yale and Rutgers on Feb. 6, and since that effort, they’ve fallen to Penn State and Boise State.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan travels to Ohio State with 12-2 overall record and currently sits at 21st in the national rankings with an RQS of 195.485.
Beam is the Eagles specialty, as they rank 11th in the nation.
Eastern Michigan posted its season high of 196.600 two weeks ago in a tri meet at Bowling Green which set a program record.
EAGL CHAMPIONSHIP
Pitt is less than a month away from welcoming conference members George Washington, New Hampshire, North Carolina, NC State and Towson to the Fitzgerald Field House for the 2016 EAGL Championships. The six-team meet is set to begin at 2 p.m. on March 19 and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
The Panthers will host the championships for the second time in four years. The last time Pitt hosted was in 2012.
General admission seating for adults is $15, while youth/senior tickets are $10. Groups of 15 or more can purchase tickets at a rate of $5 per ticket.
Tickets to the event are now available on PittsburghPanthers.com or through the Panthers Ticket Office at 1-800-643-PITT (7488). General admission tickets are available online, while youth/senior tickets are only available by calling the Panthers Ticket Office or at the door on the day of the event. Group rate tickets must be purchased in advance.
UP NEXT
Pitt will travel to College Park, Md. on March 6 to take part in a five-team meet. The University of Maryland will play host to the Panthers, along with Yale, George Washington and Texas Woman’s University.
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