BYU Defeats In-State Competition, Willman Wins All-Around

PROVO, Utah - In its third home meet of the season, the BYU gymnastics team defeated in-state rivals Southern Utah and Utah State, marking its second win of the season.

"The team came back on beam and bars and did relatively well," head coach Brad Cattermole said. "They rescued themselves from what could have been a bad week. I thought they turned it around rather well tonight."

The Cougars posted their best team score in the vault of the season, with every gymnast either tying or setting season-high marks.  Senior Natalie Eyre Pickard led BYU with a score of 9.875, with junior Sarah Yandow and sophomore Raquel Willman setting career highs, scoring 9.850.  Senior Mickell Merrell also recorded a career high mark of 9.825, and Senior Krysten Koval and freshman Jordan Schult set season-high marks, scoring 9.775 and 9.725 respectively.

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Eyre-Pickard also led BYU on the bars, posting 9.825.  Willman came in second for the Cougars with a score of 9.800 and KayCee Gassaway recorded a season-high score of 9.725.

On the beam, Eyre-Pickard tied her season best, posting 9.85 and Willman set a career-high, with a score of 9.825.  

BYU finished the meet with a strong performance on the floor, as every gymnast scored a 9.700 or above.  Koval and Jennifer Lezeu both tied their season bests, with scores of 9.825 and 9.75 respectively, and Willman set her third career-high of the night, scoring 9.800.  

With those three career-high scores, Willman won all-around for the first time this season, finishing with an impressive score of 39.275.

The Cougars will travel to Denton, Texas, next weekend to compete against the Texas Women's University, Iowa and Southeast Missouri State on March 3 at 7:00 p.m. MST.