Gymnasts travel to Southern Utah for last season m

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    By DAVE HERSAM

    After overcoming “wild” bars and more struggles on the beam in Friday’s win over Oregon State, the BYU women gymnasts have their final away meet of the regular season tonight at Southern Utah University.

    In the Marriott Center Friday, the team was led by the career-best performance of senior co-captain Angela Andersen. The Cougars started strong on the vault where they set a new school record of 49.025.

    Freshmen roommates Kelly Christensen and Kim Little had matching personal bests of 9.875, which was the meet high score on the event, and Andersen had a season best 9.8. No team member scored lower than 9.6.

    Then came the wild bars.

    BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said the bars, assembled for the first time this year in the Marriott Center, were missing a small part.

    “It wasn’t really a big deal,” Cattermole said. “They were just a bit more bouncy than usual and we had to adjust. But we will get that missing part before our next meet.”

    The Beavers of OSU opened on the bars and struggled to adjust. Their first four gymnasts fell, leaving them with a disappointing score of 46 and in a hole for the rest of the meet. Cougars Natalie Emig and Andersen were able to adjust enough to both score a meet-high 9.9.

    But once again the Cougars struggled on their third event — the dreaded beam.

    Andersen’s solid 9.8 helped salvage a 47.35 for the Cougars and tied OSU’s Bea Tistu for the top score on the beam. But four of the six Cougars had a fall or serious wobble.

    Andersen said the team needs to improve its performance on the beam, and soon.

    “Right now we’re a great three-event team,” Andersen said. “Brad told us after the meet, and I agree, that if we don’t stay on the beam we won’t go to nationals.”

    The team agrees the beam problems come from nerves and lack of confidence.

    “It’s definitely a mental problem and not physical,” Emig said. “We do hundreds of great routines in practice so we know we can do it. We just need to do that in meets.”

    The Cougars rebounded on the floor exercise, where they’ve done well all year. Emig had a season-high 9.85, freshman Marisa Cosgrave scored a career best 9.825 and Andersen’s 9.95 was the meet’s high score and a career high.

    Andersen’s career high on the floor and career-best all-around of 39.45 also tied school records set by former Cougar Nanette Walker in 1995. For her record-breaking performance, Andersen was named the Cougar-of-the-Meet.

    Cattermole sees both similarities and differences between Andersen and Walker, who now share the only two school records they each hold.

    “Though they’re both great on the floor, Angie had to work for four years for a good vault whereas Nanette was probably one of our best vaulters ever,” Cattermole said. “While Nanette used every move she knew on the bars, Angie does about one-hundredth of what she could. But they’re both hard workers, consistent, coachable, competitive and mentally tough.”

    The team’s trip to Cedar City for a meet with SUU will be a going-home of sorts for Andersen. She spent her freshman year there before transferring to BYU. The scheduled meet with Nebraska March 9 was cancelled due to weather conditions in Nebraska.

    Emig said the team is a bit battered and tired, and is looking forward to wrapping up its regular season and getting the two weeks of rest before regionals.

    “I don’t think that we’re really pumped up about the meet at SUU,” Emig said. “It’s a step along the way to our last meet of the season with Utah.”

    Cattermole said the team is assured a spot at regionals and can’t really affect their seeding there, and so might try some changes in routines or in the lineup to give other gymnasts experience.

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