Cougars Turn In Valiant Effort Despite Injury

PROVO -- After an early injury to team captain Megan Donehue, the BYU women’s gymnastics team struggled to regroup, finishing second in a tri-meet against Boise State and Utah State. Boise State won the meet (195.625) followed by BYU (193.750). Utah State finished third in the meet with a score of 189.225.

“Megan is our biggest concern right now,” Cougar head coach Brad Cattermole said following the meet. “We have little things that we need to work on as a team but it was one of those meets where it was really tough to get going once Megan got hurt.”

BYU began the meet on the floor exercise and while the Cougars did not receive the scores they have begun to expect on the event, they performed consistently for the most part. Jennifer Lezeu and Haylee Rollins led the way for BYU on floor, each receiving a 9.700.

Vault was the Cougar’s highest scoring event of the night with a team score of 48.800 but it was also on vault that Donehue landed short reaggrivating a leg injury she sustained previously.

“She just landed a bit short,” Cattermole said. “Hopefully she’ll be back but we won’t know until Monday.”

However, after Donehue’s injury, sophomore Natalie Eyre stepped up for BYU and performed a career-best vault which earned her a 9.900.

On bars the Cougars were led by team captain, McKell Merkley, with a score of 9.775. Merkley was followed closely by Eyre and Rollins, each receiving 9.750 for their efforts.

Beam was the final event of the evening for BYU. As a result of Donehue’s injury the Cougars competed with only five girls on the event meaning that every score had to be counted. A few wobbles and a fall were costly but still Cattermole was pleased with his team’s performance on the event.

“Krysten performed a solid routine,” said Cattermole. “She fell and still received a 9.350 so if we can cut out that fall in the future she will have a great score.”

Kaylee Gallup was the final competitor on beam for BYU and recorded a new season high 9.850 to finish the meet strong for the Cougars.

Coach Cattermole remains optimistic about his team’s future.

“We can still improve,” Cattermole said. “We just have to regroup and get going. We have little things that we need to do better on but I am pleased with our team up to this point.”

BYU will have another chance against Boise State next weekend at home as the Broncos will visit the Cougars along with fellow tri-meet competitor, Arizona State. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse.