BYU gymnastics reached its goal of 195 but fell to the Boise State Broncos by a score of 195.125 to 196.325 in the Beauty and the Beast meet on Friday.
The gymnasts came ready to compete after the close defeat by Boise State last week. This meet proved to be a team effort, a number of gymnasts scoring above a 9.800. Freshman Makenzie Johnson and senior Haylee Rollins scored a 9.800 on vault. Freshman Eliane Kulczyk stepped up for the team to score a 9.850. Kulczyk has proven to be a powerful asset to the team after Madeline Nilsson's injury.
Sarah Yandow Wensel performs on the bars in BYU's gymnastics meet. (Photo by Elliott Miller)
Megan Bain and Raquel Willman led the team with a 9.825. Rollins and Sarah Wensel scored a 9.800 after last week's shaky bar routine with a few falls. Wensel's 9.800 is her career best on bars, solidifying a strong team score. Three gymnasts stuck landings on the bars, an improvement from last week.
'We are slowly but surely improving,' Head Coach Brad Cattermole said. 'We had several good performances, with 9.800's on everything.'
Rollins led the team on floor scoring a 9.850. Bain followed closely with a 9.825, and Kulczyk with a 9.800. The floor was one of Boise State's lowest scoring events. The Broncos 49.025 still beat the BYU event score, showing the strength of this team.
Johnson, Emily Vidmar and Willman all scored 9.825 on beam. The Cougars knew they had lost by the last rotation, as Boise State scored at least a 9.875 on each event. On vault and floor the Broncos scored an impressive 9.900. The Cougars have yet to score a 9.900 this season. Boise State scored its 14th best score in the team history, sweeping the event wins.
'All said and done, it wasn’t half bad. That’s the direction we want to be moving in,” Cattermole said. “Anytime you get above a 195 that doesn’t hurt.”
The next gymnastics meet will be in the Smith Fieldhouse against Southeast Missouri State on Friday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. Scores will be posted on BYUcougars.com and broadcast live on BYUtv.