RALEIGH — The UNC gymnastics team members stood behind the black curtain that separated them from the floor, anxiously waiting for the matchup between N.C. State and Pittsburgh to finish.
Pain was evident on the players’ faces. As the Wolfpack finished their floor routine, tears welled up in some of the Tar Heels’ eyes while others dropped their heads.
“We had to stay positive even though we recognized right away that bars weren’t a good situation early on,” head coach Derek Galvin said after the EAGL Championships on Saturday. “We had to really fight since we were in last place (after the first rotation) … It’s not over until the last event of the meet. They kept battling.”
This wasn’t the fairytale ending the team had hoped for. The Tar Heels seemed to become unglued on one event — uneven bars. The team score of 47.475 was the lowest of the season and a dagger in the heart of the team.
“I’m disappointed in how we performed as a team on bars,” Galvin said. “Warmups went really well. The practice round yesterday, everybody looked good on bars. When we warmed up today, everything looked good … The wheels just fell (off).”
After posting high scores all season, the team was expected to continue to break records, set new goals, post career-bests and bring home accolades to commemorate their hard work.
They did bring home a few EAGL awards. Amy Smith won Assistant Coach of the Year, first-year Khazia Hislop was named Freshman of the Year, and junior Morgan Lane, unsurprisingly, was awarded Gymnast of the Year. But their performance on Saturday didn’t match an incredible regular season.
“There were some routines that maybe weren’t the best,” Lane said. “But we didn’t give up, especially after bars. We had a couple falls, but that’s okay. You have to leave that behind.”
Maybe the problem was the loud atmosphere, which was deafening at times. Maybe it was the pressure from the fans as the team was reaching new highs. Maybe it was just the nerves, which were particularly apparent among the team's 11 first-years.
