PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- The Yale women's gymnastics team traveled to Penn Sunday for the annual Ivy Classic. With competitors Brown, Cornell and Penn, the meet determines the Ivy champion. The Bulldogs came away from the competition with their highest score of the 2015 season thus far (192.225) to finish third. Host, Penn won the Ivy Classic title with a team score of 193.725.
The Bulldogs also had more all-around competitors in the Classic than they have in 2015. Senior Joyce Li finished second in the all-around with a total of 38.550. Captain and fellow senior Morgan Traina scored 37.825, which earned her fourth place. Anella Anderson also was back in action for the all-around competition, finishing in sixth place (36.575).
On vault, freshman Anna Merkuryev delivered an impressive performance. With a near career-high score of 9.725 she earned a tie for second place. Traina and junior Camilla Opperman were next on the leaderboard for Yale finishing 12th and 13th with scores of 9.625 and 9.600, respectively. Li and Anderson finished in 16th and 17th, while Allison Bushman made her first appearance of the meet, scoring 9.400.
Bushman continued her first Ivy Classic on the uneven bars where she finished with the top score among the Bulldogs (9.750), which landed her in a tie for sixth place along with teammates Li and Traina. Tatiana Winkelman made her first appearance of the meet on the bars, where she finished in a tie for 11th with a career-high mark of 9.700. Merkuryev finished 17th (9.625) and Anderson rounded out the rotation with a score of 8.525.
On the balance beam, Brittney Sooksengdao followed up her impressive third place finish in 2014 with an Ivy Classic championship. Her near career-high score of 9.800 landed her in first place on the apparatus. Li was next on the leaderboard for Yale, finishing in a tie for 8th (9.625). Merkuryev scored a 9.600 to finish in a tie for tenth place. Winkelman, Anderson and Traina also competed on balance beam for the Bulldogs, with scores of 9.425, 9.100 and 9.050, respectively.
Opperman was the top finisher on the floor exercise for Yale with a tie for third place (9.800). Li's score of 9.700 landed her in 12th, with teammate and fellow senior Katherine Lucas was close behind with a score of 9.675. Sooksengdao, Anderson and Traina finished off the apparatus with scores of 9.550, 9.500 and 9.400.
The Bulldogs will travel to Towson Feb. 27 for a meet against Michigan State, Rutgers and host Towson.
Report filed by Rachel Wofford '17, Yale Sports Publicity
