Cedar City, Utah - In front of a packed Centrum Arena crowd on Friday night the No. 30 Thunderbird gymnastics team hosted the No. 7 University of Utah and scored a 195.600 in the process. The Utes were able to win the meet with a 196.725.

“The atmosphere in that arena was amazing tonight,” SUU head coach Scott Bauman said about the meet. “There's very few places that can generate that kind of electricity with our fans, but I'll be honest with you that was not our strongest meet, I know that we can do much better than that.”

The T-Birds performed in front of 4,873 people on Friday night, which Stacie Webb said was an amazing experience.

“I think it worked out really well because everyone out in the crowd was so loud and so supportive of us that it just pumped us up,” she said. “The atmosphere of our team is usually like that, so to have the whole arena really cheering us on really made a huge difference.”

SUU's 195.600 was a big improvement from last week's 194.100 they scored at Denver.  

The T-Birds got off to a good start, scoring a 48.925 on vault but stumbled a bit with a 48.375 on bars, but they turned it around quick with a 49.050 on beam and a 49.250 on floor.

The Thunderbirds started the night on vault where they were led by Webb who scored a 9.850. A trio of T-Birds scored a 9.800, with Madyson Blake, Virginia Brownsell and Danielle Ramirez all being awarded that score.

The Utes had the top score on Vault on Friday, as Breanna Hughes scored a 9.900.

When the T-Birds rotated to Bars they were led by two gymnasts, as freshman Caitlyn Kessel and Kirsten Yee both got 9.850s.

Utah had the top five scores on bars with two gymnasts scoring a 9.925 and three other gymnasts hitting the 9.875 mark.

On the beam Webb led the way for the T-Birds with a 9.875.

Before the meet the T-Birds honored former gymnast Kellie Dangerfield, who recently passed away, with a moment of silence after bringing her family out on the floor for a presentation. After the meet concluded Webb was honored with the Kellie Dangerfield Beam Queen Award for her performance.

Tyly Bozzuto and Natalie Trejo posted the second highest scores for the T-Birds with 9.825s.

Utah's Samantha Partyka and Kari Lee tied for the top beam score with a 9.900.  

Madyson Blake brought the crowd to life on the floor when she scored a 9.900 on floor, which was the high for the night as well as a career high for her.

“After I landed my first pass it felt really good and I knew I was going to hit the rest of my routine,” Blake said. “I was most worried about that first pass so when I nailed it I wasn't worried about it.”

Karen Gonzalez scored the second highest floor of the night with a 9.875, which tied her with Utah's Breanna Hughes.  

Utah's Lee won the all around with a 38.775 and SUU's Ramirez scored a 37.775.

The Thunderbirds will be back home next Friday for another home meet against the Utah State Aggies. That meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.