CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah University gymnastics team posted a 195.850 inside the America First Event Center to defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes 195.850-195.775.
"Overall, I liked what I saw out of the girls. They are continuing to get better and better every meet and even though the scores from a tough judging panel didn't really reflect it, they did a great job," head coach Scotty Bauman said. "The McBride girls started us off on vault and ended up winning the event championship. That's tough to do. Madison Howlett's bar routine was near flawless, I couldn't see what the judges saw. We still have some places that we can clean up. We're still counting a low score on beam, but they're continuing to get better. We still have room to grow and get better."
As is custom when at home, the Flippin' Birds started the night on vault, their strongest event of the night. Megan McBride and Madison McBride tied for the top score of the night on either team, posting back-to-back scores of 9.850. Autumn Jorgensen, Molly Jozwiakowski, and Karen Gonzalez all earned 9.800's and pushed the Thunderbirds to a team score of 49.100.
"This whole season Megan has been drilling her vaults and I keep saying 'I just want to stick a vault like Megan McBride' so being able to do it together and get the same scores is a dream come true," Madison McBride said.
Southern Utah then moved to bars where three T-Birds broke the 9.800 mark. Kirsten Yee was crowned event champion after she scored a 9.850. Madison Howlett and Autumn Jorgensen both earned a 9.825 and Becky Rozsa and Madison McBride rounded out the scoring with 9.775's. The Thunderbirds hit a 49.050 on bars to take a 98.150-97.700 lead at the halfway point.
The Thunderbirds saw improvement on beam from last week scoring a 48.625 team score on the event. Jorgensen led the way for the T-Birds with a 9.800 and Mary Packham was awarded a 9.750 for her routine. Yee and Alyssa LaDieu each hit a 9.725 and Hannah Nipp rounded out the scoring with a 9.625.
Southern Utah had led the Hawkeyes all night and found themselves up by just .100 heading into the final rotation.
Jorgensen and Megan McBride led the scoring on floor with 9.875's, a new career-high for McBride. Madison McBride hit a 9.825 and Gonzalez and Jozwiakowski rounded out the scoring with a 9.750 each. The Flippin' Birds were able to keep the Hawkeyes at bay with a team score of 49.075.
Bauman was particularly impressed with the routine of Megan McBride saying, "We all needed that floor routine and we all knew how bad we needed that floor routine and I'm telling you, she went out there and did the best routine of her entire life."
"It felt so good to finally put it together and just go out there and have fun. Maddy said she was trying to be like me on vault, but I was trying to be like her on floor because her floor routines are always so good," McBride added.
Jorgensen was crowned the all-around champion with a combined score of 39.300.
The Flippin' Birds will host their final regular season home meet of the season next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. as the Washington Huskies roll into Cedar City.
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