Pioneer gymnast Moriah Martin finished 17th in the NCAA vault finals on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, having advanced to the event finals after tying for second on the apparatus in Friday’s semifinals.
With Friday’s score of 9.925 on vault, Martin became the fifth gymnast in Pioneer history to earn First Team All-America honors and the first to do so since 2009, when Jessica Lopez was honored for the same event.
Sunday, Martin competed in the second flight of the vault finals and posted a 9.825, marking her 14th score of 9.825 or higher this season and placing her at No. 17 of 24 gymnasts in the finals. LSU’s Rheagan Courville and Alabama’s Diandra Miller led the vault field with a pair of 9.925s, matching Martin’s semifinal score.
Earlier in the season, Martin recorded a perfect 10.0 on vault, making history as only the third Pioneer to do so.
“We’re really proud of Moriah for making the vault event final and being a First Team All-American,” said head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart. “It’s hard to be here without a team, but she represented the University of Denver and her team with a lot of pride and a lot of character.”
Friday’s performance marked Martin’s second consecutive appearance at the NCAA semifinals as an individual after placing 12th in the all-around in 2012. At this year’s semifinals, she combined for a 38.275 in the all-around to finish 16th in the first session, posting a 9.75 on floor, a 9.425 on bars and a 9.175 on beam in addition to her vault performance.
Martin earned Friday’s score of 9.925 on vault after sticking the landing of her Yurchenko Full, a vault involving an entry with a round off followed by a back handspring. According to Martin, this is the most common vault in collegiate gymnastics.
“It’s really difficult to make finals in the vault,” said Martin. “You have to stand out, and that’s really hard when almost everyone does the same vault. If you have 120 vaults, 105 are probably Yurchenko fulls. It’s a combination of hard work and luck, really.”
With Martin’s senior season as a Pioneer yet to come, she and Kutcher-Rinehart both expressed several goals for the 2014 season, including seeing the entire Pioneer squad at the NCAA finals next year. Kutcher-Rinehart said she hopes Martin’s experience both this year and last year will help make this goal a reality.
“She was here last year, and she was able to learn from it and qualify for finals this year,” said Kutcher-Rinehart. “It’s fantastic that she has another year left to bring that experience back to the team. She is our MVP. Our philosophy is to build a championship mentality though teamwork, character and excellence, and Moriah really demonstrates all of those things.”
