Final Results

The University of North Carolina gymnastics team finished 1st of four teams with a score of 193.775 on Saturday, March 1, hosting the Tar Heel Invitational at Carmichael Auditorium. For the last home meet of the Tar Heels' 2008 season, 1,062 fans came to show their support for the gymnasts; in particular, the graduating seniors. The Carolina gymnastics team faced East Atlantic Gymnastic League (EAGL) rivals Maryland and New Hampshire, as well as the College of William & Mary from the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), in the Tar Heel Invitational. The gymnastics team faced early challenges, as junior Rachel Schneider suffered an injury while warming up on vault. With the injury, the UNC gymnastics team was forced to change their line-ups and compete with only five gymnastics in three of the events.

"It's very unfortunate, the series of occurrence that have happened to this team lately," said head coach Derek Galvin. "In spite of that, the team put together one of the most amazing beam performances that I've seen in many years. We only had five competitors on three of the events and six on beam, but it was an inspiring performance. I told the team after the meet was over how it was such a huge testament to the character of this team. It is very easy in this situation to back off, but they didn't and they kept charging. We were in third place after the first two events, but then they came back on beam and floor to take first in the meet. The only thing that could have helped this team endure the emotional impact of these injuries is a performance like they had tonight."

The Tar Heels began their last home meet of the season on vault, scoring 48.575 as a team. Sophomore Christine Nguyen led the team on the event, scoring 9.875 and placing 1st. Junior Jennifer Valby took 4th on vault with a score of 9.775. Sophomore Kara Wright scored 9.750 and took 7th on the event.

On bars, the Tar Heels were also led by Christine Nguyen who scored 9.825 and placed 1st. Kara Wright also had a strong performance, scoring 9.750 and placing 3rd. Senior Shawna Kelly and freshman Karli Jones tied for 8th on bars, scoring 9.700. The Tar Heels only competed five gymnasts on bars and scored a 47.650.

For the first time this season, seniors Angela Lauten and Alice Xu performed on beam. Lauten scored 9.700, placing 7th, and Xu posted a 9.625 with a 14th place finish. Christine Nguyen's strong performance on beam (9.825) led the Tar Heels on the event with a team score of 48.650.

The Carolina gymnastics team competed on floor for their last event of the meet, scoring a team total 48.900. Shawna Kelly started the Tar Heels on floor, scoring 9.675 and placing 8th. Next up was Tina Jacob, competing floor for the first year, scoring 9.650 and placing 11th. Karli Jones placed 4th with a 9.775. Kara Wright took 2nd on floor (9.875), just behind Christine Nguyen whose strong performance on floor (9.925) placed her 1st on the event.

With only three meets left in the regular season, the Tar Heel gymnastics team advances to 12-2. The Carolina gymnasts hit the road to face the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in their next competition on March 7 at 6:00 p.m.