BYU Gymnasts Come Up Short

BOISE -- The BYU women’s gymnastics came up short Friday night in a tri-meet hosted by Boise State, The Cougars improved their score from last week with a 190.625 but placed third behind the Broncos (195.925) and CS Fullerton (193.825).

"We're adjusting to the injuries and line-up changes we've had recently, but it's a process," said BYU head coach Brad Cattermole. "We're just trying to go out, hit our routines and do the best we can each meet."

Junior Danielle Goldman (38.250) and sophomore Madeleine Johnson (38.225) once again bolstered the Cougar line-up, finishing second and third, respectively, in the all-around competition. Goldman’s score was a career high. The Titans’ Alaina Baker took the title with a score of 38.975 while the Broncos’ Lindsay Kazandjian finished fourth.

BYU’s top team score of the night came on the floor exercise at 48.200, marking the fourth time in the last five meets that the Cougars have topped 48. Goldman and sophomore Jessica Villegas paced BYU with scores of 9.750, a personal best for Villegas. Johnson contributed a score of 9.675 while sophomore Whitney Olsen added 9.550 points to the BYU tally.

Uneven bars proved to be the second-best event of the night with a score of 47.700, the third-highest of the year for the Cougars. BYU was forced to count a fall due to only having five gymnasts competing on the event as a result of injuries, but several other Cougars stepped up big. Johnson posted the highest BYU score of the night with a 9.775 while Goldman and Melissa Hough each recorded career highs at 9.750. Freshman Emiko Ono, who was thrust into the bar line-up after team co-captain Megan Donehue suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago, also established a new personal best at 9.625.

After scoring above 48 in the last four events, the Cougars struggled on the vault Friday night. Again only competing five gymnasts with no room for error, BYU tallied a 47.425 on the event led by freshman Jennifer Lezeu’s 9.650, tying her career high. The Cougars also had difficulty on the balance beam with a team score of 47.300. Villegas posted a solid 9.700 followed by Olsen at 9.625, but three scores below 9.400 proved too much to overcome.

BYU continues a busy two weeks of action on Monday night at the University of Denver in a meet scheduled for 7 p.m. The Cougars will also compete next Friday night at Utah State.