CEDAR CITY, Utah – Down .500 heading into the final rotation, the Southern Utah University gymnastics team needed a big floor rotation to pull out its fourth-straight home victory, and the T-Birds delivered with a 49.475 to go on and defeat Boise State by a score of 196.675-196.225.
The Flippin' Birds remained perfect at home with the victory and avenged a loss to Boise State from earlier in the season.
VAULT (49.075)
Rachel Smith started what would prove to be a strong individual evening with a team-high 9.875 on vault. She was followed by Hailey Vultaggio who strung together a career night, starting with a personal best 9.825 in the first rotation. Anna Hartley and Stephanie Tervort also contributed identical 9.800s.
BARS (49.375)
Karley McClain led Southern Utah in the second rotation by setting a career high with a 9.925 on her bar routine. Nikki Thomas stepped up big in the event for SUU, tying a season high with a score of 9.875. Aubri Schwartze and Shylen Murakami then matched Tomas' output themselves by recording the same marks of 9.875.
BEAM (48.750)
Beam proved to be the T-Birds' toughest rotation of the night, but it also produced one of the best individual scores of the meet. Murakami tied a career-best performance when she led off the event with a score of 9.925. Vultaggio posted the next-highest score at 9.875, and Smith notched a 9.850.
FLOOR (49.475)
Needing their biggest rotation of the night to have a chance at winning the meet, Vultaggio, Schwartze and Hannah Nipp all delivered by hitting the 9.900 mark. Vultaggio set a career high when she scored a 9.925, and Schwartze did the same by tying her career best at 9.900. Nipp was the last routine of the entire meet, and she saved the best for last by tying her career high of 9.950. Nipp's score also matched the school record which she and several others hold together.
The Thunderbirds will now travel for their furthest meet of the entire season when they head to Pennsylvania for a quad meet on Saturday, March 5. SUU will face host Penn State along with Denver and Cornell. The meet begins at 5 p.m. MT.
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