CEDAR CITY, Utah - By scoring a 196.300 inside the Centrum Arena on Friday night, the No. 23 Thunderbird gymnastics team scored their highest score of the season, the fifth highest score in school history, and beat the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines and UC Davis in the process in front of a very loud home crowd of 2,933.
The Wolverines scored a 195.750 and the Aggies scored a 194.025.
Floor on Friday night was one of the highlights of the season for the Thunderbirds. Virginia Brownsell found her way into the SUU record book, scoring a 9.950 on floor and tying for the highest score ever in SUU history.
After Brownsell, Natalie Trejo and Stacie Webb both scored 9.900s on the event. That was just one of several impressive performances SUU had, as Madyson Blake scored a 9.875, and Danielle Ramirez scored a 9.825.
Brownsell said the team was jumping for joy after the meet, because they knew they could put a whole meet together like they did.
SUU's 49.450 on floor as a team tied them for the third highest score in school history.
“I thought the girls put together an amazing meet,” SUU head coach Scott Bauman said. “From the get go on vault, from the very first kid to the very last kid on floor we put some of our best gymnastics out there. I couldn't be more proud, I couldn't be happier for the girls.”
Bauman said this was one of the most enjoyable performances the team has had since he's been at SUU.
The Thunderbirds started strong, scoring a 49.000 as a team on the vault in their first rotation. Madyson Blake posted the high score for the T-Birds, scoring a 9.850. Stacie Webb scored a 9.825 for the Thunderbirds and Danielle Ramirez was given a 9.800 for her vault.
Michigan's Olivia Karas and Austin Sheppard took the top two scores on vault with 9.900 and 9.875 respectively.
The T-Birds continued their success on bars, where they were led by school record holder Kirsten Yee, who scored a 9.850 on the event. Freshman Caitlyn Kessel posted the second highest score for SUU, getting a 9.800.
As a team, SUU put a 48.800 on the board for their bar rotation.
The Wolverines also took the top two scores on beam, with Austin Sheppard and Nicole Artz scoring 9.875s.
Trejo's first event of the night was a successful one, as she scored a 9.875 to lead off the beam rotation for the Thunderbirds. That also won her the event championship. That routine was followed by back-to-back 9.800s by Yee and Tyly Bozzuto. Danielle Ramirez followed that up with a 9.850 of her own.
The Thunderbirds ended up scoring a 49.050 as a team on the beam.
The Wolverines struggled on beam, having to count a 9.350 after two gymnasts fell. They scored a 48.250 for the rotation as a team.
After the meet the team honored seniors Natalie Trejo and Arlyn Amor, as well as student coach Kiki Parenteau, as this was the Thunderbirds final home meet of the season.
“It's surreal,” Trejo said. “It's a dream come true ending for sure, to compete in the Centrum. Beating a top school and doing our best gymnastics, that was a really cool feeling.”
The T-Birds will be on the road the rest of the way, starting next Saturday in Provo with a meet against Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference opponent Brigham Young University.
