Brittni Wilde competes on the bars in the meet against SUU. (Ari Davis)
The BYU gymnastics team took second place with a final score of 195.550 in a tri-meet against Utah State (196.025) and the University of New Hampshire (193.825) in Logan, Utah on Friday night.
The Cougars competed on the uneven bars in the first rotation and had another strong performance to follow last week's highest bar score of the season. Eliane Kulczyk set a career high with a score of 9.900 while the rest of the team scored 9.775 or higher. The team earned a bar score of 49.175.
BYU performed on the balance beam in the second rotation. Jill Van Mierlo set a season-high score with a 9.825 while Makenzie Halliday scored a 9.900 and Emily Vidmar a 9.850. Natasha Trejo earned a 9.700 and Mikaela Jones added her score of 9.725. The Cougars received a beam score of 49.000 and had a running score of 98.175 after two rotations.
The third rotation featured the team on the floor. Sin To and Halliday each set career-high scores with a 9.825 and a 9.950, respectively. Trejo contributed with a score of 9.800 and Vidmar and Mackenzie Douglas added matching scores of 9.875. A team score of 49.325 was the Cougars best floor score of the season. BYU had a running score of 147.500 heading into the final rotation.
The Cougars took on the vault in the final rotation. To had the highest team score with a 9.850 and Jones scored a 9.775. Kulczyk added her score of 9.725 while Halliday received a 9.625 and Douglas a 9.075. The team's vault score of 48.050 wasn't enough to take first place, but allowed them to take second.
The final score on the night featured Utah State in first with a 196.025, BYU in second with 195.550 and the University of New Hampshire in third with a 193.825.
The Cougars will travel to Tucson, Arizona to face the University of Arizona on Friday, March 11.