WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah - The Flippin' Birds competed in the Rio Tinto Kennecott Best of Utah meet on Monday, January 15, at the Maverik Center. The Thunderbirds were looking to match the impressive opening weekend score, but a couple of falls on the beam and floor led to a team total of 194.000.
The Thunderbirds took on some outstanding competition in BYU, Utah State, and the University of Utah at the annual event. The Utes took home the top spot, scoring 197.725, while BYU placed second with 195.775. The Flippin' Birds came in third place, just ahead of the Aggies, who scored 193.600. Isabella Neff was named the Most Valuable Performer of the meet for Southern Utah for her career-high bars routine.
Head Coach Scotty Bauman Said
"Obviously, this is not how we expected this meet to go, but we warmed up rough and didn't make the changes we needed to in order for us to be successful. There were a lot of individual successes from this meet, including the bars team, which was incredible. We as a staff have to figure out how to make sure that this team hits every single routine because they can do just that. That is what we will have to work on even with the quick turnaround for competition."
Meet Recap
Floor (48.225)
The Flippin' Birds started the meet on the floor, looking to shine on the main stage. Junior Taylor Gull would start things off with a 9.800, followed by Freshman Alyssa Fernandez, who would also notch a 9.800. Junior Ellie Cacciola was next with a 9.750. A rare fall by Aubri Schwartze led to a 9.025. The final counted score of the rotation was an impressive 9.850 by Freshman Niya Randolph.
Vault (48.775)
The Flippin' Birds would open the second rotation with sophomore Kennedi McClain. McClain scored a 9.725 before Cacciola pushed the score up with a 9.775. Sophomore Trista Goodman was next and put up a 9.650. Randolph then added a 9.725, and sophomore Kayla Pardue contributed a 9.800. The final vault of the rotation was a 9.750 by Gull.
Bars (49.350)
In the third rotation, the T-Birds moved to the bars, and Christensen got things going with a 9.775. Next up was Schwartze, who impressed the judges to a score of 9.875. Reigning MPSF Freshman of the Week, Alex Routsis was next, scoring a 9.825. Back-to-back 9.875 routines from Goodman and Randolph brought the team score up significantly, but a career-high 9.900 by Isabella Neff gave the Flippin' Birds a 49.350. The score is the fourth best in program history.
Beam (47.650)
As the final rotation began, the Thunderbirds sat in third place. McClain started the rotation with a 9.625. Fernandez scored a 9.300, and that was followed by a 9.125 by Schwartze. Cacciola then gave the team a significant boost with a 9.825. Senior Aly Coutu finished the rotation with a solid 9.775 routine to make the T-Birds score on the event 47.650.
Next Up
The Flippin' Birds will open the home slate on Friday, January 19, when they host the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Aggies of Utah State. The meet will begin at 7:00 pm and will be available to stream on the new platform Overnght. Stay tuned for more information on how to subscribe and watch all the Flippin' Birds meets.
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