Jan. 21, 2006

Complete Results

Chicago, Ill.- Two wins from junior Rachael Zelinski and a vault crown for senior Veronique Meunier highlighted a strong set of showings for the UIC women's gymnastics team during their home opener against Minnesota at the UIC Physical Education Building on Saturday night.

Zelinski saved the best for last, matching her career-best score on floor exercise with a first-place 9.9. She also won the beam title with a 9.775.

After a rough-go on her specialty apparatus during the first two weeks of the 2006 campaign, Meunier proved the third time's a charm on vault with a season-best 9.9 to win the event.

Meunier also placed second on uneven bars with a 9.775.

UIC posted a season-high 192.900 against the No. 19 Gophers, who won the meet with a 193.625. As a team the Flames bested Minnesota with a vault tally of 48.825 and a floor mark of 49.150.

Junior Jessica Panos continued to shine, posting personal-bests on vault (9.75) and floor exercise (9.85). Panos placed third on floor and fourth on vault.

Freshmen phenoms Zandre Labuschagne and Annie Kachman made their home debuts memorable, as Labuschagne took second on beam (9.75) while Kachman used a third-place, personal-best vault (9.8) and a fourth-place, career-best uneven bars (9.7) to take a close second in the all-around with a 38.5.

Kachman also posted a career-best floor score of 9.825.

UIC returns to action with a road meet at Denver with Michigan State on Saturday, January 28th beginning at 7:00 p.m. Central.