Women's gymnasts fifth at NAIGC Championships in Florida
4/15/2019 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Liberty University's women's gymnastics team finished fifth out of 30 collegiate programs competing at Level 9 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) Championships held April 11-15 in Daytona, Fla.
It was one place below the Lady Flames' highest national finish, after they placed fourth as a team at the NAIGC meet in Columbus, Ohio, in 2017, when Julie Bouton and McKella Johnson both advanced to the All-Around finals as sophomores.
This time, Johnson was Liberty's only All-Around finalist and paced the Lady Flames to a fifth-place overall showing with 103.95 points — behind collegiate teams from Texas A&M (111.975), Rhode Island (110.35), Penn State (105.5), and JMU (105.025) as well as alumni teams from the NAIGC (107.175) and Ohio State (104.525).
In Friday's preliminary competition, Johnson posted the second-highest All Around score in her group (36.6), highlighted by her performances on the uneven bars (9.05), balance beam (9.25), and floor exercise (9.5).
Bouton qualified for finals in the vault (9.2), beam (9.025), and floor (9.35) finals, narrowly missing the cut for the All-Around competition with her 36.025 total.
Sophomore Mia Harvey qualified for the beam finals with her score of 9.1.
In Saturday's finals, Johnson finished fifth on the beam with her 9.125, despite taking a fall, followed by Harvey (8.2, 16th) and Bouton (8.0, tied for 17th).
Bouton tied sixth on the floor with her 9.425 performance and tied for 10th on the vault with her 9.25 effort.
Johnson also finished 18th in the bars with her 8.05 score to finish 13th in the All-Around standings with her total of 35.275.
Complete results are available online.