PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- The Yale women's gymnastics team traveled to take on Ivy Classic rival Penn Sunday, hoping to build off the record-breaking performance at New Hampshire. The Bulldogs had strong individual performances on all four apparatus, leading them to a team score of 191.000, which is not far off from the historic 191.175 achieved at the prior meet.
Yale gymnasts swept the all-around competition taking places first through third. Captain Morgan Traina came out on top with a score of 38.575, which was an improvement from her all-around score at New Hampshire. Freshman Anna Merkuryev also witnessed great improvements from the last meet, finishing second (38.225). Senior Joyce Li rounded out the all-around for the Bulldogs with a total score of 37.875, good enough for third place.
On vault, Merkuryev earned herself the top spot with a strong score of 9.700: a season-best mark. Traina was close behind in second place, scoring 9.575. With only .075 separating second through sixth place, vault was a tight event for the Bulldogs and Quakers. Junior and ECAC Specialist of the Week Camilla Opperman earned a score of 9.500, good enough to tie for sixth. Katherine Lucas and Brianna Chrisman tied for ninth on the event (9.450) and Li finished eleventh with a score of 9.425.
On bars, Morgan Traina again delivered a solid performance. She finished atop the leaderboard on the event with a score of 9.825. Fellow senior Li finished next on the bars for the Bulldogs in sixth place (9.675). Sophomore Tatiana Winkelman achieved a new career-high mark of 9.575, which landed her in eighth place on the event. Merkuryev tied for ninth (9.525), with teammates Anella Anderson and Chrisman finishing 11th and 12th, respectively.
Balance beam was the highest scoring event for the Bulldogs, with a team score of 48.325. Traina again led the Bulldogs, finishing second (9.775). Merkuryev and Brittney Sooksengdao tied for sixth on the event, both scoring 9.700. The score marked a career-best at Yale for the young freshman, Merkuryev. Anderson, Winkelman and Li rounded out the event for the Bulldogs. They finished 9th, 10th and 12th. Winkelman achieved yet another career-high score on beam with a 9.550.
Lucas led the way for the Bulldogs on floor exercise, finishing second with a score of 9.700. Joyce Li also delivered a strong performance to earn her a 9.550 and a tie for seventh place. Sooksengdao and Traina finished ninth and tenth on the event, scoring 9.450 and 9.400. Merkuryev and Opperman finished up the rotation for the Bulldogs in a tie for eleventh place (9.300).
The Bulldogs will compete for the first time at home in 2015 Jan. 31, as Yale takes on Bridgeport, SCSU and Rhode Island College in the Don Tonry Bulldog Invitational.
Report filed by Rachel Wofford '17, Yale Sports Publicity
