CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah University gymnastics team hosted the No. 9 Boise State Broncos for their 2018 home opener Friday night. The Broncos were able to escape the America First Event Center with a 195.475-193.475 victory over the Thunderbirds in their second matchup of the young season.
"I was really looking forward to being home because when we're home it just feels like practice almost. It's great having our fans out there and being able to stay in Cedar is really nice," senior Karen Gonzalez said. "We're a good team, we just need to get it together and realize that we can do this."
Southern Utah started the night on vault, where they posted a team score of 48.925. Megan McBride led the way for the T-Birds with a 9.850 in the first vault of the night. Madison McBride, Autumn Jorgensen, and Morgan Alfaro each posted a 9.775 and Molly Jozwiakowski and Mckenna Burnside rounded out the scoring with a 9.750 each.
The Flippin' Birds had their strongest showing of the night on bars where four Thunderbirds posted 9.800 or higher. Madison Howlett set a new career-high with a 9.825 and Kirsten Yee followed right behind her with the same score. Karen Gonzalez and Autumn Jorgensen each posted 9.800's and Becky Rozsa rounded out the scoring with a 9.750. As a team Southern Utah scored a 49.000 on bars.
Boise State finished the first two rotations with team scores of 48.425 on bars and 49.050 on vault.
The Thunderbirds moved to beam next, where they posted their low score of the night. Alyssa LaDieu and Karen Gonzalez were the standouts on beam as Gonzalez posted a new career-high of 9.775 and LaDieu scored a 9.800. SUU had to count three falls and finished with a team score of 46.850.
The final rotation of the night saw Southern Utah take on the floor exercise where Autumn Jorgensen posted the high score of 9.900. Gonzalez, Molly Jozwiakowski, and Mckenna Burnside each were awarded 9.850, new career-highs for both Jozwiakowski and Burnside. As a team the Thunderbirds scored a 48.700 on floor.
Jorgensen and Madison McBride both competed in the all-around Friday night with McBride earning a combined score of 36.950 and Jorgensen earning a 38.675. Boise State's Shani Remme won the all-around title with a 39.500, scoring above 9.800 on each event.
"I was so proud of Karen Gonzalez. I was so impressed with Mckenna Burnside and Molly Jozwiakowski," head coach Scotty Bauman said. "A lot of our girls are really stepping up and I've been impressed with what they have been doing. I do believe that we'll be able to fix this moving forward."
The Flippin' Birds will travel to Michigan next week as they take on the Central Michigan Chippewas in their third road meet of the season.
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