BYU’s women’s gymnastics team suffered another loss, losing 196.275-194.525 on the road against the University of Arizona on Friday.
This was the team’s fourth loss in a row, bringing its season record to 1-5. After a disappointing meet against Denver on Feb. 10, the team was excited and ready to move on from another loss, hoping f0r a road win to help turn the season around. Senior Natalie Pickard said the team had been preparing all week to be energetic and excited for the meet. The energy showed as the team’s overall score was the second highest of the season.
Consistency was on the Cougars’ side Friday night, but despite significant improvements throughout all the events, the Cougars were no match for the No. 15 Wildcats.
“We do still have a lot of talent,” Pickard said. “We just have to hit on the same night.”
The team’s highest scorers of the night were Pickard and fellow senior Krysten Koval. Pickard scored a 9.850 on vault and Koval scored a 9.850 on beam. Pickard also did well on bars, ending with a score of 9.775.
“I really love bars and beam [because] they’re so different,” Pickard said. “No one else [in other sports] does things like them.”
The team’s best event overall was floor, an impressive turnaround considering the team’s poor performance on floor in the previous meet against the University of Denver. After that meet, head coach Brad Cattermole said he could not remember the last time the team had done so poorly. Against Arizona, however, five of BYU’s six gymnasts competing on floor scored a 9.700 or higher. The leading performer in that event was Koval, who scored a 9.825. Overall, the team’s score in that event was 48.775.
Four of the six gymnasts competing on vault for BYU also scored a 9.700 or higher.
Sophomore Raquel Willman, BYU’s sole all-around competitor, had a solid night, scoring 9.700 or above in all of the events. Her best event was bars, where she scored a 9.800, which made her the highest scoring gymnast for BYU in that event.
Junior Sarah Yandow also had an impressive night, displaying the exact consistency the team needs to be successful. Competing on vault, bars and floor, she scored a 9.700 or above on all three events. Her strongest event of the night was vault, on which she scored a 9.775.
The women’s gymnastics team next competes at home against Southern Utah and Utah State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
