Gymnastics sets new school record in Penn State loss

Staff report | @KyKernelSports

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UK gymnastics fell to No. 16 Penn State on Saturday, despite the Cats breaking the school record for points scored.

The Cats’ tally of 196.775 was not enough to overcome the Nittany Lions’ total of 197.325.

“Another great team performance tonight,” said UK head coach Tim Garrison. “We did well on every event, but the highlight of the meet was beam hitting six-for-six and breaking the school record.”

The meet in University Park, Pa., was the fourth meet in a row that No. 19 UK (7-5-1, 3-3-1 SEC) scored more than 196 points.

Another UK record tumbled in the balance beam, where the Cats set a score of 49.475, breaking the 7-year-old school record on the apparatus.

Individual Cats also got in on the record-breaking act. Sophomore Alexis Gross set career-high scores on both uneven bars and beam, with junior Holly Cunningham also posting a career-best score on the beam.

Those feats were ultimately not enough for the Cats to get the win; however, Garrison is confident his squad is heading in the right direction with the SEC Championships on the horizon.

“We are very close to where we need to be heading into our conference meet and the postseason,” he said.

Those SEC Championships get underway Saturday in Little Rock, Ark.