Lady Flames gymnasts show steady improvement with second-place showings at JMU, Ohio State

Saturday, February 10

Harrisonburg, VA

6:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Duke Dog Classic

Lady Flames freshman Rachel Anderson (lef) celebrates with sophomore Annabella James after her floor exercise routine at JMU. (Photos by Allyson Hoffler)

Lady Flames gymnasts show steady improvement with second-place showings at JMU, Ohio State

2/22/2024 11:54:00 AM | Gymnastics

Injuries have hampered the team in the regular season, but it has shown resilience and persisted by faith in a brighter future, with a March 23 home meet and NAIGC Nationals in New Mexico still to come.

Liberty-gymnasts-JMU — Liberty gymnasts combined for a second-place finish among Level 9 teams on Feb. 10 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.

Liberty University's women's gymnastics team competed in their first two events of the spring semester this month, the Duke Dog Classic at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., on Feb. 10 and the Buckeye Blast at Ohio State University on Feb. 17.

The Lady Flames turned in solid individual performances across the board at both meets to finish runner-up to the two host teams despite missing several key members in event lineups with injuries.

Annabella-James-gymnast-composite — Annabella James finished fourth on the floor at JMU and led Liberty in All-Around.

At JMU, sophomore assistant captain Annabella James led Liberty in the All-Around with a combined score of 35.45 that would have been even higher were it not for a misstep on the balance beam. She placed third on the uneven bars and fourth on the floor exercise.

Senior Audrey Case contributed a score of 9.1 on the bars, followed closely in that event by freshmen teammates Anna Messerschmidt (9.0) and Sarah Dyk (8.8).

Isabella Sierra landed a contributed with a third-place score of 9.0 on beam and fellow sophomore Kailyn Rowland landed an 8.7 on the floor exercise. Overall, the Lady Flames totaled 104.1 points to finish second to the Lady Dukes (108.35).

"I was happy with their first start at a real competition together," Liberty second-year Head Coach Jessie Lowe said. "Confidence is hard to have at the first meet, so we just made it our goal to enjoy the experience, fight for the skills they had, extend grace for the errors, and focus on being great teammates to each other … and they did an excellent job at that."

At Ohio State, Case enjoyed another strong outing to lead the team with a 34.45 All-Around score paced by her silver and bronze medal performances on the beam (9.1) and bar routines (8.8), respectively.

Uneven-bars-gymnasts — Liberty's Kailyn Rowland (left) and Sarah Dyk both excelled on the uneven bars.

Sophomore Sarah Baugher returned from an injury to lead the Lady Flames with a third-place showing on her floor routine (9.2).

"She also nailed a strong (8.7) beam routine with very little practice," Lowe said. "Overall, we had a great outing on bars despite one fall from Sarah Dyk that still scored a 9.0. Annabella James hit a bar routine with upgraded skills (that scored an 8.9), and Anna Messerschmidt also hit for an 8.8."

Sophomore Kate Haluck stuck her landing on the vault that she had missed at the JMU meet, earning her a third-place score of 8.9 to lead the Lady Flames in that event.

"They showed so much more confidence at this meet and competed much more like they are capable of," Lowe said after Liberty raised its total team score to 105.2. "I was most impressed with their ability to adapt to different circumstances, as they carried such good energy and encouragement with each other through the entire meet no matter how a routine went."

She is hoping to have more gymnasts — including senior team captain Sophie Boone who injured her elbow last semester and senior newcomer Charlie Bubenik, a former member of the Liberty Cheerleading team — healthy enough to compete in Liberty's next meet, March 23 at home, and for the April 10-13 NAIGC National Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

"There is a lot of potential this team has that we haven't quite been able to show yet due to a lot of adversity, but I have faith that we will be able to come out stronger by the end of the season," Lowe said.
Video by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator