PROVO, Utah - The Southern Utah gymnastics team competed in a tri meet with BYU and Denver in Provo Friday night and finished in second place, topping the tenth-ranked Pioneers.
The Thunderbirds started the meet on bars where they set a new season-high in the event, scoring a 49.225. Madison Howlett and Kirsten Yee led the way with a 9.875 each, a new career-high for Howlett. Madison McBride set a new season-high with a 9.850 and Autumn Jorgensen hit a 9.825. Becky Rozsa rounded out the scoring with a 9.800. The team score of 49.225 also ties for the fourth-highest bars score in program history.
"We've been all over the place on bars this year, but they're starting to finally dial it in and that made me very pleased," SUU head coach Scotty Bauman said.
The 49.225 also had the Flippin' Birds on top after one rotation as BYU started things on vault with a 49.050 and Denver hit a 49.000 on floor.
Southern Utah then moved to beam where Hannah Nipp and Jorgensen led the Thunderbird attack. Nipp set a new career-high with a 9.875 and Jorgensen was right behind her with a 9.850. Karen Gonzalez earned a 9.725 for her routine and Kirstie Yee hit a 9.625.
"They went five out of five after our first kid up on beam fell, on the road, and that's really good," Bauman. "That's something we can look at and say 'we're going to be fine on beam' and the girls know it."
The Flippin' Birds' team score of 48.425 moved them into third place, .550 off of BYU who moved into first with a bars score of 49.150.
The Thunderbirds then moved to the floor exercise, where they posted their highest team score of the night, a 49.325. Jorgensen posted the high score of the event for the T-Birds with her third consecutive 9.900 of the season. Madison McBride followed Jorgensen with her fourth consecutive 9.875 on the event and Molly Jozwiakowski set a new career-high, also hitting a 9.875. Gonzalez and Mckenna Burnside rounded out the scoring with a 9.850 and a 9.825 respectively.
Denver was able to take the lead with a 49.350 on bars, but Southern Utah's 49.325 brought them within striking distance.
The Flippin' Birds broke the 49.000 mark on yet another event, as they went on to score a 49.100 on vault. The three Orem natives led the way on the event with Madison McBride scoring a 9.850 and Jorgensen and Megan McBride each scoring a 9.825. Jozwiakowski and Morgan Alfaro wrapped up the night, each scoring a 9.800.
Jorgensen's score was her fourth 9.825 or higher of the night, giving her a new career-high in the all-around with a 39.400.
"We looked great on floor, and looked awesome on vault, I was really proud of them," Bauman said. "I was tickled pink that they're starting to really put it together on the road."
With that 49.100 the Flippin' Birds were able to overtake the Pioneers and move into second place with a final score of 196.075. This is the second time this season that Southern Utah has broken the 196.000 mark.
"I was really proud of the way we fought, but give credit to BYU and Denver," Bauman said. "Those are two really tough teams, and they both did a lot of impressive things tonight. BYU's a tough group this year, and we're going to have to bring it every time we go up against them."
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