The BYU gymnastics team ended the regular season in a second-place finish against University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University in Friday’s meet.
The Cougars have progressed each meet this season, ending their regular season with several career highs. Junior Haylee Rollins led the meet with a career-high on bars with a score of 9.925. Sophomore Megan Bain posted 9.900 on floor, a personal-best. Many other of the BYU athletes scored close to their career highs, positioning the Cougars for a strong regional meet on April 6.
BYU did exceptionally well on floor, all gymnasts scoring above 9.8. The Cougars delivered a season-high of 49.250, their highest scoring event of the night. Bain led the team with 9.900, but was closely followed by Raquel Willman and Rollins. Both Willman and Rollins scored a 9.875, taking third place overall on this event. Makenzie Johnson, Eliane Kulcazyk and Jordan Schult all scored 9.8’s. BYU tied with University of Washington’s team score. Seattle Pacific trailed both teams with a team score of 48.875.
BYU also posted a season best on bars with a score of 49.075. Rollins career-high of 9.925 led the Cougars. Willman and Bain stayed close to Rollins score with 9.8’s. All of BYU’s athletes scored above 9.7 to reach the overall high team score. University of Washington scored just above the Cougars, with a team-score of 49.200. Washington had five scores in the 9.8 range, edging the Cougars by just 0.125 points.
Balance beam proved to be a more difficult event for the Cougars, counting a fall and lower scores overall.
“If we start to make mistakes it’s hard to make-up for them,” coach Brad Cattermole said. “We had every opportunity to do well.”
BYU scored a lower team score of 47.850, hurting BYU’s chances to win against the University of Washington. BYU’s highest scores were by Johnson with 9.750 and Summer Raymond with 9.7. University of Washington swept this event with 49.050, and four scores above 9.8.
Kulczyk and Willman led BYU on vault, scoring 9.850. Johnson and Rollins scored just below the top competitors with 9.8’s. BYU had an overall team score of 49.075, only 0.50 points behind top-scorer Washington. University of Washington ended the night with 196.625. BYU scored 195.250 and Seattle Pacific came in third with 193.150.
Johnson scored third in the all-around competition with 39.100. University of Washington’s gymnasts scored the first two spots with 39.3 and 39.275. Willman caught fourth with 39.075 and Bain took sixth with 38.700.
On March 24-25, the National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Committee will select teams for the 2013 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships. The BYU athletics website says, “The Cougars are in a good position to likely earn an NCAA regional berth.” The competition will take place on April 6.
