BOISE, Idaho - The Thunderbird gymnastics team tied their school record on Saturday night with the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championship on the line, as SUU scored 196.575 and finished runner-up to the Boise State Broncos.
Boise State scored a 197.025 en route to their second straight MRGC title. Brigham Young University finished in third with a 196.100 and Utah State University finished in fourth with a 195.850.
SUU's Danielle Ramirez finished with a 39.425 on Saturday and tied in the all-around, making her Co-Conference Champion in that respect.
SUU head coach Scott Bauman was thrilled with his team's performance on Saturday, and thinks it will be a big factor for them moving forward into the season.
“It couldn't have gone better,” he said. The ladies did great gymnastics tonight. This is such a good springboard for us going into regionals.”
Ramirez said the team from top to bottom did a great job competing, and they're excited with the final outcome.
“I think the meet went really well. I'm really excited for my team,” she said. “We just went out there and had a great time and I think we are all really excited with our score.”
The T-Birds started on the uneven bars, where Sidney Townsend led off the meet with a 9.750. That was followed by Memory Shettles (9.800), Caitlyn Kessel (9.825), Kirstie Yee (9.875), and Danielle Ramirez (9.850) all putting up solid scores. Natalie Trejo wrapped up the rotation for SUU with a 9.875.
As a team, SUU accumulated a 49.225, which is now the fourth highest bar score in school history.
Boise State's Krystine Jacobsen was the bar champion of the night with a 9.975.
After the first rotation Southern Utah was in the lead by a quarter of a point.
The first three Thunderbirds on the beam all shared a score of 9.775, a group that included Trejo, Yee, and Tyly Bozzuto. Ramirez and Stacie Webb broke the trend with a 9.875 and 9.850 respectively. Freshman Kamryn Bayer finished the second rotation for the Thunderbirds with a 9.800.
Ramirez was the balance beam champion of the night.
On the floor exercise Madyson Blake and Ramirez got things going by both scoring 9.850's. Virginia Brownsell and Webb continued the momentum with routines scoring 9.875's.
Trejo kept the momentum swing going on floor by scoring a 9.925 with a powerful performance. Trejo's score was a personal best. Freshman Kamryn Bayer pulled out her first routine of the season and scored a 9.875 to wrap up the rotation for the Thunderbirds.
Boise State Broncos Maddie Krentz and Sandra Collantes tied for first place on the floor exercise, both scoring 9.950's.
After the third rotation the flippin' birds continued to lead once again, by a fourth of a point.
The fourth and final rotation for SUU was vault. Caitlyn Kessel was awarded a 9.725 to start and Blake was second up scoring a 9.775. Webb also scored a 9.775, followed by Ramirez with a 9.850 which landed her tied for first place on the event. Brownsell and Trejo wrapped up the rotation with a 9.750 and 9.625 respectively. The Thunderbirds recorded a vault score of 48.875.
As a newcomer to competing all four events, Trejo scored a 39.200 placing her fifth.
“It was a really cool experience, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity.” Trejo said about her experience competing in the all-around. “My teammates did such a great job in front of me. It feels like my hard work has paid off.”
While the T-Birds were on vault, the Broncos were on floor where they recorded a pair of 9.950s and a pair of 9.900s to pull ahead of the Thunderbirds and claim the title.
SUU entered into competition ranked 26th in the nation, which mathematically secures their spot at the Regional competition. The T-Birds will look forward to competing in their Regional meet on April 2nd. Regional destinations will be announced on Monday at 4 p.m.
