BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The Yale gymnastics team placed third at a quad meet hosted by Bridgeport on Sunday evening. The host Purple Knights claimed the team title with a 193.625 and were followed by Brown (190.800), Yale (190.375) and RIC (175.825).
"We came out a little flat today and made mental mistakes after a good week of practice. I was happy to see some of the juniors and seniors achieve new career highs; however, our team score came up short of our goal this week," said assistant coach
Andy Leis. "We have improvements to make, with the focus being on bars and beam going into our meet against RIC. We are very excited to compete in front of our fans at home next weekend."
TEAM STANDINGS
- Bridgeport - 193.625
- Brown - 190.800
- Yale - 190.375
- RIC -175.825
The Bulldogs had a running score of 48.75 (vault), 47.500 (bars), 47.150 (beam) and 47.650 (floor).
Junior
Alyssa Firth highlighted the Bulldogs' individual performances by winning the vault title with a career-high 9.800, posting another career-high on beam (9.700), placing eighth on floor, 13th on bars and tying for second in all-around (38.475).
Yale logged a 47.650 team total on floor exercise. Yale saw three Bulldogs (Firth, junior
Charlotte Cooperman, senior
Sofia Menemenlis) score a 9.550 or higher. Senior
Jade Buford followed with a 9.500, while senior
Rebecca Chong posted a 9.450, both placing in the top 15. Junior
Jacey Baldovino contributed a 9.350 to the event total, placing in the top 20. The exhibition of the day was first year
Riley Meeks.
Yale regained some momentum on vault, placing all six gymnasts in the top 15. It was a one-two finish on vault as the Bulldogs saw Firth and first-year
Aimee Titche post career-highs of 9.800 and 9.750. Firth's score is the fourth-highest vault score in YGT history. Chong's 9.600 propelled the Bulldogs over the 48.000 mark. Buford, Cooperman and senior
Anna Jennings earned a 9.400 or higher on this event. The exhibition of the day was junior
Rowan Palmer.
Rotation No. 3 saw a 47.500 for the Bulldogs for the highest uneven bars total of the season, led by Baldovino's career-high 9.875. The score put her on the first-place podium as well as in the third-highest score spot in YGT history. Buford closely followed with a 9.825, finishing in third-place and also earning a new career- and season-high. Firth (9.375) followed Buford with a nicely landed double back dismount. First-year
Caitlin Henry was nearly through a well-executed routine when she fell on her double-layout dismount posting a 8.900. Sophomore
Lindsay Chia pushed through her bar debut with a new routine (9.250). First-year
Raegan Walker anchored the lineup with a well-performed routine, but came up short on a release (9.175).
"It is exciting to already see hard work paying off this early in the season and it will push me to keep trying to improve on my score. I am also extremely grateful to Andy for helping me get to where I am right now. I hope to build on this weekend's bar score as well as cleaning up the other events," said Baldovino.
The Bulldogs ended the day with a 47.150 on beam. Cooperman earned two 9.700s from the judges and a seventh-place finish, while tying alongside junior teammate Firth. Chia also had a notable performance, scoring a 9.400. To wrap up the lineup performances, Baldovino, Buford and senior
Emma Firmstone posted a 9.150, 8.900 and 9.200. The exhibitions of the day were Meeks and senior
Carly Israel.
In the all-around, Firth took home a second-place (38.475) and Buford followed close behind in third place with a 37.675. Buford finished with scores of 9.450 (vault), 9.825 (bars), 8.900 (beam) and 9.500 (floor).
The Bulldogs are back in action this coming Saturday, taking on RIC at their first home meet of the season.
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