The DU women’s gymnastics team won its first meet of the season on Saturday night in front of a sell-out crowd, but only by a fraction of a point.
In attendance was 2008 Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin, who the Pioneers hosted as their guest of honor.
The No. 14 Pioneers beat No. 11 Nebraska by a score of 194.350 to 194.125 at the Pioneer Alumni Classic Meet in Hamilton Gymnasium.
DU outscored the Huskers in both the bars and floor competitions, which was just enough to help them win by a mere .225 points.
Freshmen Louise Mercer and Brianna Springer both set personal records on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise.
Springer also had her best performance in the all-around competition, with a score of 38.600, placing third in the all-around results behind Nebraska competitors.
“Nebraska has a very rich tradition in gymnastics and they have been in the top six in the country for several years in a row. They are a quality competitor,” said head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart. “I feel really good about our performance and I think that we are a very strong team.”
DU started the meet on vault, with Mercer, Springer and senior Kelley Hennigan all receiving scores of 9.8.
The three Pioneers tied for second place on vault coming in right behind Erin Davis from Nebraska.
On uneven bars, Mercer and senior Nikki Brown tied for first place, with scores of 9.8, along with Husker Kylie Stone.
“We made some mistakes but were prepared and in good shape,” said Kutcher-Rinehart of Saturday’s meet.
“As long as we can eliminate some of those mistakes, we should continue to get better and better.”
On the balance beam senior All-American Jessica López tied Nebraska competitor and three-time All-American Tricia Woo. They each had scores of 9.9, the highest of the meet.
López has returned to DU after competing in the 2008 Olympics for her native country of Venezuela.
At the end of last year’s regular season López was ranked No. 4 in the nation all-around and led the DU team in all four events.
She placed 43rd all-around in Beijing, with a score of 56.175, and is the first DU gymnast to ever compete in the Olympics.
Sophomore Amanda Johanson tied a Husker for first place on the floor exercise with a score of 9.825. Springer placed third with 9.8.
“It’s nice to know that we can make some mistakes and still win competitions,” Kutcher-Rinehart said. “It’s a good sign. I like the improvement we’ve already had from Cancun to now.”
The Pioneers started their season at the Cancun Classic two weekends ago and placed fourth overall with a team score of 193.825.
Leading the Pioneers in the Cancun meet were Johanson, Springer, Mercer and junior Ellen McCarthy, all with scores of 9.8 in certain events.
Johanson won the floor exercise title for her first career event title. Mercer participated in her first collegiate meet.
DU’s best event was the uneven bars, where the team scored a total of 48.800 points.
Olympic champion, Liukin, won a silver medal last year in Beijing in that same event.
Liukin became the third American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around. She also was the third American woman to receive five gymnastics medals in a single Olympic Games.
Liukin attended the game with her father, Valeri Liukin, who was a 1988 Olympic Champion. At the end of the meet, the Liukin’s presented awards to the event champions.
“It was an honor to have Nastia and her father Valeri at our meet today,” Kutcher- Rinehart said.
“I am really pleased that they were able to come and that the university was able to help us bring them here.”
Also present was Olympic gymnast Alexander (Sasha) Artemev.
“Thanks to DU and our guest athletes we had a sell-out crowd tonight,” said Kutcher-Rinehart.
Artemev will be attending the Pioneers Winterfest Invitational meet this Saturday at 6 p.m. against Minnesota in Hamilton Gymnasium.
