By Julie Murdock
Winning isn”t everything.
Despite a loss to the University of Utah on Friday night, the BYU women”s gymnastics team couldn”t be happier.
The Cougars earned a season high 196.025, the fourth highest team score in school history.
“That”s all we”re after is the score so we can get to where we need to be for regionals,” said assistant coach Shauna Mertz.
Utah scored 197.225 to win the meet, including a perfect ten on the uneven bars by Theresa Kulikowki.
Ute Deidra Graham won the all-around and teammate Theresa Wolf took second.
Ranked No. 7 nationally in the all-around according to BYU athletic media relations, BYU”s Kelly Parkinson came in third.
“She just had kind of an off-meet, no big deal,” said head coach Brad Cattermole. “She”ll be back in the next meet doing better than this one.”
Parkinson tied for first in the vault with Utah”s Veronique Leclerc and also tied with fellow Cougar Kim Little for third in the uneven bars.
Little had been sidelined most of the season due to injury and Friday was her first real meet, said Mertz.
“Kim will hit her routines but she was having the same jitters that everybody had three of four meets ago,” Mertz said.
The Utes swept the floor and beam events after the Cougars showed some nervousness.
“We”re still showing too many nerves that we don”t in practice, but we”re getting there,” said Mertz.
Sophomore Brooke Craig gave a solid performance on the floor event, sharing a team high score with Candace Cosgrave.
Cattermole said he was pleased with Craig”s performance after a scary fall on the bars in practice.
“Brooke got her bell rung yesterday and we weren”t even sure she would be in the meet, then she came back and did really well,” he said.
Overall, Cattermole said he was pleased with the results.
“It”s just good to get everybody hitting and get a good high-score. It was a good solid home meet,” he said. “Hopefully, as the season goes, we”ll get better and better.”
The Cougars will be competing at 7 p.m. today against Southern Utah in Cedar City, Iron County.
