North Carolina gymnastics claimed a victory of 195.625-191.250 over William & Mary in the team's last home meet of the season.
What happened?
The Tar Heels started off strong and kept the momentum going. Their highest scores throughout every rotation were above 9.850, and UNC didn’t stop there. North Carolina took first place in all five categories, tied career bests and neared its goal of 196.
Beam, which is where the Tar Heels struggled at the beginning of the season during the Lindsey Ferris Invitational, was their highest score of the night. However, this is where William & Mary seemed to struggle. The Tribe was off-balanced, forcing some of their gymnasts to fall off the beam, resulting in a score of 46.925 to UNC's 49.000.
UNC’s final rotation on floor, the fan favorite, wasn’t as high scoring as normal. They ended with a 48.800, which was higher than William & Mary’s score. Junior Morgan Lane tied her career best of 9.900 on floor and was .100 shy of her career-best all-around.
Who stood out?
Juniors Kaitlynn Hedelund and Madison Nettles both took home first place for vault (9.850) and uneven parallel bars (9.875) respectively. However, it was Lane’s floor performance that stood out. She launched the Tar Heels into a 4.275 lead after her performance.
However, off the floor, the two seniors were the center of attention. As a touching video played across the screen, tears welled up in senior Christina Pheil and senior student assistant Ashley Landry’s eyes as they reminisced over their time at UNC. The senior night ceremony was enough to bring tears even to head coach Derek Galvin’s eyes.
