By ALYSHA BAXLEY
The BYU women’s gymnastics team will bring Kelly Parkinson and Angie Hickman back to competition when it faces Southern Utah University for the second time in as many weeks tonight in the Marriott Center at 7 p.m.
In the Cougars’ last meeting against the Thunderbirds, March 13 in Cedar City, they beat SUU 194.225-192.575. The team turned in solid performances on floor, bars and vault, and hopes to extend that success to the beam as well tonight.
The Cougars are coming off a two-week rest to face Southern Utah. Hi-D Beck said the rest has been really good for the women, giving them a chance to focus on routines and not worry about scoring for a weekend.
Beck said the team has had really good practices and expects to do well against Southern Utah Thursday.
“We’re starting to get everybody back, and we’re peaking right when we need to,” Beck said. “It’s our last home meet, it’s in the Marriott Center. If we hit it, it’ll be awesome.”
Beck said knowing the team won its last meeting against the Thunderbirds is a big confidence booster, but that winning is not really what’s important.
“We’re just trying our best to improve on our best that we’ve done,” Beck said. “If we can do that then it shows how hard we’ve worked.”
Parkinson echoed Beck’s feelings. She said the team has been having consistent workouts and is in high spirits after its win against Southern Utah two weeks ago.
“We beat ’em two weeks ago with solid routines until our last event,” Parkinson said. “If we can hit beam and keep everything else pretty solid, then we should do really well.”
Parkinson said she is happy to be back in competition, even though her routines will be a little less difficult than usual to make up for lost workout time and her injury.
After tonight, the Cougars have just one meet remaining on their schedule. The team will face the University of Utah on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
