PROVO, Utah – Despite career-high scores from a few Cougars, the BYU women's gymnastics team was narrowly defeated by Boise State, 194.700 to 194.425 on Saturday night at Smith Fieldhouse.

"It's the early season and we wanted to go big," head coach Brad Cattermole said. "We ended up making a few mistakes that cost us, but that's because we don't want to play it safe. You've got to take the big shots, we just came up a bit short."

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On the vault, the Cougars were led by freshmen Makenzie Johnson and Eliane Kulczyk, who each scored a 9.825. The score was a career high for Johnson. Despite BYU's solid performance on the vault, Boise State responded with five gymnasts scoring a 9.700 or better.

In the second rotation, BYU moved to the bars, where four Cougars scored a 9.750 or better. Sophomore Megan Bain had the best performance for the home squad, earning a 9.800. Kulczyk and senior Haylee Rollins both submitted scores of 9.775, a career best for Kulczyk.

Junior Raquel Willman led the Cougars on the beam, scoring a 9.750, the top mark of any gymnast at the meet. Bain and Johnson both scored a 9.725 on the beam to help the Cougars make up some ground. Heading into the fourth rotation, BYU was right on Boise State's heels, trailing 146.300 to 145.775.

Willman and Kulczyk were BYU's top performers on the floor, with each scoring a 9.800. It was a career-high score for Kulczyk and tied Willman's career best. Willman finished second in the all-around competition with a score of 38.575.

"It hurts that we're missing Madeline (Nilsson)," Cattermole said. "She's probably our most consistent vaulter, but we've just got to make adjustments. I'm confident we won't make the same mistakes next week."

Next week the Cougars will head to Boise for a rematch against the Broncos. The event will start at 7 p.m. MST at Taco Bell Arena on Friday, Feb. 1.

Meet results

PROVO, Utah – Returning home for the second home meet of the year, the BYU women’s gymnastics team hosts Boise State on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Last week BYU finished second with a 193.450 at the Texas Woman’s Quad Meet but suffered a difficult blow to the team when freshman Madeline Nilsson suffered an ACL injury. Nilsson has a promising gymnastics future and is one of best vaulters on the team.

“Well its tough to lose her,” head coach Brad Cattermole said. “It makes us have to scramble to put together a lineup but we have girls ready to come in and go.”

With an injury early in the season the Cougars will need to look at the depth on the team to establish  the best lineups going forward. BYU’s strong freshman class will look to step up even more as the season goes on and the veterans will need to continue to lead by example.

The Cougars welcome the Broncos of Boise State who just came off a 194.875-191.250 victory over Utah State in their season opener.

Meanwhile, BYU can rely on its early experience with three meets under its belt to help them as the team prepares for another tough meet at home.

The meet will begin at 7 p.m. from the Smith Fieldhouse and will be televised live on BYUtv. Follow BYUcougars.com for live stats and scores from the meet.

Meet notes