2022 Season Preview

22

SEASON PREVIEW

Coming off the squad’s 41st appearance in the NCAA Regional Championships, the West Virginia University gymnastics team returns to competition in 2022. Following a somewhat shortened season in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mountaineers are anxious to return to what they’re used to calling a normal season.

The 2021 slate featured a double round-robin conference slate that was capped with a trio of meets against regional rival Pitt, before WVU went on to host the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship and the NCAA Morgantown Regional Gymnastics Championships. This season, West Virginia is scheduled to compete against 13 nonconference opponents, the most since the 2019 campaign.

“We are definitely excited to get back to having what we feel is a more normal schedule this year ollowing last season,” 11th-year head coach Jason Butts said. “The team is looking forward to getting back to seeing other teams around the country, outside of just competing against local and conference opponents.”

WVU officially opens its 2022 campaign with a dual meet at LSU on Friday, Jan. 7, at 6:45 p.m., inside the Maravich Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Mountaineers open their home slate on Friday, Jan. 21, as they host defending Big 12 Champion Denver inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

Here’s what you need to know heading into the new campaign:

• West Virginia is led by 11th-year head coach

Jason Butts. He is assisted by associate head coach Travis Doak, who enters his 14th season with the program and eighth as the associate head coach. Assistant coach Zaakira Muhammad, a former All-American at WVU, enters her second campaign as a member of the coaching staff. • The Mountaineers return to competition following an 2-7 season in 2021. WVU tallied a season-high score in a 196.1-193.4 win over regional rival Pitt in its regular-season finale on March 14. The mark is tied for the 35th-best score in program history. • Ten of the 11 Mountaineers returning to the 2022 squad earned time in at least one lineup, with eight reaching the podium. In all, WVU boasted 64 podium finishes in 2021. • Junior Kianna Yancey led the squad with 360.55 points last season, followed by senior Rachel

Hornung with 358.925. Senior Kendra Combs ranked first on the team with seven event wins (five on floor exercise and one each on uneven bars and balance beam). • The Mountaineers are led by a trio of seniors this year: Esperanza Abarca, Kendra Combs and

Rachel Hornung. Combined, the three have competed in 100 career meets. • Abarca is the most experienced gymnast on the roster, having competed in 36 meets in three seasons at WVU, while Hornung has amassed 816 career points. • Additionally, junior Emily Holmes-Hackerd and sophomore Kiana Lewis will look to eclipse the 500 career-point mark this season. • Five freshmen look to make their Mountaineer career debuts this season: Brooke Alban, Brynn

Freehling, Heidi Hartje, Anna Leigh and Laura

Soltis • West Virginia is scheduled to compete in a pair of conference meets against league foes Denver and Iowa State, while the Mountaineers will square off against 13 nonconference opponents this year. • WVU opens its season on the road for the third time in the last four seasons, when the

Mountaineers travel to LSU on Friday, Jan. 7.

West Virginia is 6-11 in season-opening meets under Butts. • The Mountaineers’ postseason slate starts with the 2022 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship, set for March 19, at Magness Arena, in Denver,

Colorado. WVU played host to last year’s event, as the conference championship returned to

Morgantown for the first time since 2014.