PROVO, Utah - The Thunderbird gymnastics team competed in an early afternoon meet on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo against BYU, and topped their Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference foe 196.000 - 195.750.
For the T-Birds, the 196.000 is the second highest score this season, and the highest on the road by a large margin.
“I think the team is really starting to figure out that they're a pretty good gymnastics team and they know they can do it on the road now,” SUU head coach Scott Bauman said.
Bauman went on to say, “each meet is a learning experience. We're trying to get this team ready for Regionals and get them mentally ready to win a Regional, and that was a grinder. That was a great meet. BYU was in that the whole time, so hats off to them.”
The T-Birds started the meet on bars, where they were led by Kirsten Yee with a 9.850 and Memory Shettles with a 9.825. As a team, the Thunderbirds scored a 48.925 on their opening event.
The Cougars had two of the top five bar scores, led by Brittni Wilde, who scored a 9.900. Jill Van Mierlo was second overall with a 9.875.
The Thunderbirds really hit their groove when they rotated to vault, with Danielle Ramirez scoring a 9.875 after Stacie Webb scored a 9.850. Webb's score was matched by Virginia Brownsell, who also hit a 9.850, to lead the Thunderbirds to a 49.050 event score.
BYU's Makenzie Halliday tied Ramirez for the top score on vault with a 9.875.
After two rotations the Cougars had a 98.250 - 97.975 advantage over the Thunderbirds.
On floor the Thunderbirds were led by Webb, who was given a 9.875 for her routine. Madyson Blake scored a 9.850, followed by Karen Gonzalez with a 9.800. The T-Birds scored a 48.950 on the floor as a team.
BYU had two big performances on floor to wrap up the meet, with Emily Vidmar and Makenzie Halliday both scoring a 9.900.
After having to count a 9.250 on beam the T-Birds took a 146.925 - 146.550 advantage into the final rotation.
On beam Webb set the high mark for the meet with a 9.925, followed by Tyly Bozzuto and Kamryn Bayer who both scored 9.825s to lead the T-Birds to a 49.075 on their beam rotation.
Ramirez said the team has been really stepping it up on the beam as of late because of what they're doing in the practice gym.
“Some of the team has had to come in and do extra beam work, and I think all together we've been supportive of that and it's really exciting to see how good we can be, and that's our goal every single time,” she said.
For Webb, the 9.925 was a season high and tied her career high. She said after the meet that the entire team stepped up big time on Saturday.
“We've been focusing a lot on just staying together throughout all of our events, and we did that well today, even after falls,” she said. “We just stayed in our element and just competed like a team.”
BYU's Halliday was the only gymnast on Saturday to compete the all-around, scoring a 39.400.
Next week the T-Birds will continue their road swing with a meet in Berkeley, California, against the California Bears out of the Pac-12, and the Michigan State Spartans of the Big 10.
“I think because this was the first road meet we've had in a long time we just tested the waters again, got used to a competition away from home,” Webb said about competing on the road for the rest of the season. “Now that we're used to it again we're going to go after it at Cal and Boise.”
