CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah gymnastics team posted their best score of the season so far, and the sixth highest score all-time, Friday night as they beat Temple University 196.575-194.050.
The Flippin' Birds had five individual scores of 9.900 or higher, after scoring just two all season, and as a team they set the third highest mark all-time on the balance beam with a 49.300. Seven Thunderbirds set or tied their career-high on at least one event with, Karley McClain setting career-highs on every event and the all-around and Shylen Murakami setting career-highs on beam and floor.
"We've needed this. We moved a lot of people in and out of the lineups tonight, particularly on floor, and I'm really proud of the way they handled it on everything," head coach Scotty Bauman said. "We still left a little bit of gymnastics out there, but this tells this young team that they are that good."
McClain's career night saw her score a 9.775 on vault, a 9.800 on bars, a 9.875 on beam, and a 9.900 on floor. Those scores gave her an all-around score of 39.350 and the titles of floor event champion and all-around champion.
On beam, the Flippin' Birds didn't have to count a score lower than 9.825 on their way to their all-time score. Murakami led the way with a career-high 9.925 followed by McClain's 9.875. Hannah Nipp scored a 9.850 both Alyssa LaDieu and Autumn Jorgensen scored 9.825's, a new career-high for LaDieu.
"If you go back and you watch it, every one of our athletes absolutely drilled their landings. We have one of the best beam teams out there, we have known it all along, and it was good to see them put that together," Bauman said.
Southern Utah's next highest score came on bars where they scored a 49.125, a new season-high. For the third straight week, Becky Rozsa-Thompson had the high score on bars for the Thunderbirds, tying her career-high and earning the title of bars event champion with a 9.900. Murakami and Jorgensen both earned 9.825's and McClain earning a 9.800. Stephanie Tervort rounded out the scoring with a 9.775.
Over on vault, Morgan Alfaro set a new career-high and was named vault event champion with a 9.900. Tervort followed with a 9.825 and Molly Jozwiakowski and Rachel Smith both earned 9.800's, a new career-high for Smith. McClain's 9.775 rounded out the scoring for the T-Birds as they set a new season-high on the event with a 49.100.
"Morgan has had that coming for a while. She sticks almost every vault she does. If you look at her amplitude and her distance, it is huge. She has been doing that all year for us so it was good to see her get rewarded for a great vault," Bauman said.
Floor was the only event of the night where the Flippin' Birds didn't set a new season-high, but they were still able to break the 49.000 mark with a 49.050. McClain and Nipp both scored 9.900's, a new career-high for Nipp, and Murakami also had a career-high with a 9.825. Jozwiakowski earned a 9.725 and Caitlin Kho rounded the scoring with a 9.700.
The Flippin' Birds will host their final home meet of the season next week when the BYU Cougars come to town.
Tickets
Tickets for the Flippin' Birds' next home meet on February 22 against BYU are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women's Sports Pass for access to all 2019 regular season home meets.
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