The women’s gymnastics team defeated Southern Utah 194.800-194.050 for its first win of the season on Saturday.
Coach Brad Cattermole was looking forward to seeing improvements from everyone on the team in the meet against Southern Utah and throughout the rest of the season.
The team kept up solid performances throughout the whole night. A few of the gymnasts even matched and improved upon their own personal best scores.
The Cougar’s best event as a team was the floor exercise. It was obvious that significant improvements had already been made since the previous meet. Junior Sarah Yandow even made her floor debut this past Friday night. It had been her personal goal for this season to compete on vault, bars and floor. Against North Carolina State, only one gymnast scored above a 9.600. Against Southern Utah, all six of the gymnasts competing for BYU on floor scored 9.650 or higher.
For the second week in a row, Megan Bain was one of BYU’s most consistent performers. Bain actually broke three of her previous career high scores, scoring 9.900 on vault, 9.900 on beam and 9.825 on floor.
Another notable performer of the night was senior captain Natalie Pickard. Pickard tied her career best score on the uneven bars with a score of 9.850.
BYU also recorded strong performances on the balance beam. It was the final event of the night and the Cougars went in slightly ahead of the Thunderbirds. Senior Krysten Koval ended up winning the event with a score of 9.950, which was a new personal best. Pickard also did well on beam, scoring a 9.800. As previously mentioned, Bain scored 9.900 on beam, tying for second place with Southern Utah’s Alyssa Click.
The team’s next meet is away against Utah on Jan. 27. The women’s gymnastics team will compete at home for the first time this season against Boise State on Feb. 4.
