PROVO, Utah—Cougar freshmen highlighted Friday night’s meet between the BYU women’s gymnastics team and the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, helping the Cougars to a 195.150-192.350 victory. BYU's mark is a season high for the team.
"We struggled a tiny bit on the beam and floor, but we continue to improve and continue to get better," BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. "Our vault was really good tonight, but we can always get better. I'd say it was a solid meet. Not fantastic, but solid."
Freshman Eliane Kulczyk led the Cougars with a 9.875 on the vault, tying her career best. Fellow rookie Makenzie Johnson recorded the best vault of her career for the Cougars, scoring a 9.850. Their marks contributed to a 49.100 BYU score after the first rotation, a season-high for the team on the vault.
Haylee Rollins put up BYU’s top score on the bars with a 9.850. After the first two rotations, BYU led the Redhawks 97.975-96.150.
The Cougars next went to the balance beam, where freshman Summer Raymond scored a 9.800 in her first official routine competing for BYU. Johnson continued her success from earlier in the meet with a team-high 9.850, setting a new career record.
BYU scored meet highs in all of the four events.
Going into the last rotation, BYU led 146.525-144.125. Rollins led the Cougars to victory with a 9.825 for her showing on the floor.
Junior Raquel Willman took first place in the all-around, scoring a 39.000 total with individual scores of 9.775 on the vault, 9.750 on the uneven bars, 9.775 on the beam and 9.700 on the floor. It was her second straight competition above 39.000 in the all-around.
Next up for the Cougars, a trip to Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma Quad Meet Friday at 7 p.m. CST. BYU will compete against Oklahoma and Texas Woman’s, along with matching up against Boise State for the third time this season.
PROVO, Utah – Coming off a season high at Boise State with a 195.125, the BYU women’s gymnastics team returns to the Smith Fieldhouse against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks on Friday.
BYU’s top score of the 2013 season sets the stage for even more improvement as the Cougars have been productive through the first five meets, nearing the halfway point of the year.
With the middle of the season in motion, the team has to find a way to stay healthy through injuries and bugs and perform at its best.
“Well we have a few girls that are sick and battling right now,” head coach Brad Cattermole said. “We’ll just have to see where we are at the end of the week and do our best.”
The team scored season highs in both the vault and the floor at Boise State, areas that started the season off slower. BYU set a season-high on the balance beam in the first meet of the year and will look to match that 49.050 effort against the Redhawks.
The bars have been steady for the Cougars with a low of 48.400 and a high of 48.950 so the team will have an opportunity to build on that heading into Friday’s meet.
Freshman Eliane Kulczyk continues to impress along with youngsters Makenzie Johnson and Emily Vidmar. Kulczyk led the team with the highest vault score on the team for the second-straight week and Johnson and Vidmar tied veteran all-arounder Raquel Willman for the best balance beam score last week.
Willman is coming off a season high with a 39.150 all-around score at Boise State.
The meet is set to begin Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. from the Smith Fieldhouse. It will be broadcast live on BYUtv and byutvsports.com
Check BYUcougars.com and byu.statbroadcast.com for live scores from the meet.