Tar Heels Top Ball State, Fall to Oklahoma

Saturday, January 19

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 p.m.

North Carolina

195.150

197.000

University of Oklahoma

Khazia Hislop placed second on floor with a score of 9.925.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

January 19, 2019 | Women's Gymnastics

Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery II

By: Alex Davis-Isaac

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Carolina Gymnastics put up a strong effort and placed second Saturday against No. 1 Oklahoma University (197.000) and Ball State (193.600) with a score of 195.150 at Carolina Gymnastic's annual Women's Day and Pink Meet. Carolina suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in EAGL competitions. The UNC gymnasts posted strong numbers on all four events, showing improvement in every event from last week's win at the Lindsey Ferris Invitational.

"Today was a lot of fun," stated Carolina head coach Derek Galvin. "Marie [Case Denick], Emma [Sibson] and I were pleased with the way the team preformed. We broke the 195-threshold. The team again looked composed and did quality routines. We know that we can still improve."

The Tar Heels began the meet on vault, with a team score of 48.500. Strong performances from senior Madison Hargrave and junior Mikayla Robinson led the team on vault, with both Hargrave and Robinson scoring a 9.750, finishing in seventh place in the meet. Khazia Hislop finished in ninth-place, rounding out the top-10 Tar Heels with a score of 9.725.

Up next on parallel uneven bars, Carolina scored 48.600 to earn second of the three teams. Strong performances from Rylie Dewhurst and Megan Ruzicka led the Tar Heels. Dewhurst placed sixth with a score of 9.825 while Ruzicka scored a 9.750 to earn an eighth-place finish. Grace Donaghy scored 9.700, finishing behind Dewhurst and Ruzicka in ninth.

The Tar Heels scored a 48.875 on beam, their second-best event of the day. Hislop and Dewhurst tied with sixth place for the top Tar Heel finishes on beam with scores of 9.850, matching Dewhurst's career high. Jamie DeCicco placed tenth on beam with a score of 9.800 for Carolina.

The Tar Heels best performance of the day came on floor exercise. Hislop led the Tar Heels with a second-place finish on floor with an impressive score of 9.925. Lily Dean also took to the floor for the Tar Heels, scoring 9.850 to finish fifth in the event. Although the Tar Heels finished the meet with the highest overall team score for floor (49.175), it was not enough to capture victory in the total team standings.

"The team has been training hard," Galvin said. "They've been working hard in the gym. It is great to see the results of that effort. I know they enjoyed the meet today."

"We had a great crowd," continued Galvin. "The thing I really enjoyed about the spectators is that they were cheering for all three teams. They appreciated good gymnastics and they got to see that today."

Carolina looks forward to hosting the Wolfpack of North Carolina State University at its next meet. The meet will be held in Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday, January 25 and will begin at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free to the public. Come join the team as they take on the No. 20 Wolfpack for its second home meet of the season before hitting the road.