NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale gymnastics team proved victorious in their first dual meet of the season on Saturday. The Bulldogs totaled 192.850, rising above RIC (176.050). This is a new season-high for the gymnastics team.
 
Strong performances across all events by the Bulldogs resulted in four wins for all four events. The Bullldogs not only won all four events outright, but took up all three award places on podium for each event.
 
Yale started the day off on vault, where Yale landed the top six award placements overall. Senior Anna Jennings led off the competition with a 9.500, placing sixth. Fellow senior Jade Buford finished an incredible front entry vault (9.625), while senior Rebecca Chong followed with a yurchenko half scoring a huge 9.700. Carrying the momentum, junior Charlotte Cooperman was close behind (9.550). First-year Aimee Titche won the event title with a 9.725. Her incredible yurchenko full placed her on top of the podium in first-year. Junior Alyssa Firth rounded out the rotation with a fantastic 9.625 vault score The exhibition of the day was junior Rowan Palmer. The Bulldog vault lineup took the top six spots for the competition. Titche took first, Chong placed second and Firth landed close behind in third.
 
The Bulldogs next moved to bars. Titche started the event off with a strong hit routine (9.250), while first-year Caitlin Henry completed her routine with a landed double-layout dismount (8.400). Firth took the third position in lineup and continued with the hit routines of the day (8.975). Sophomore Lindsay Chia competed a new bar routine, hitting the full and half dismount landing (9.575). Junior Jacey Baldovino and Buford were major anchors for the bar lineup, Baldovino scoring a 9.775. Buford scored yet another season- and career-high of a 9.850. Yale placed in the top five award positions for the meet.

Yale transitioned to the balance beam where it placed its top six gymnasts in the top six podium awards. Baldovino, senior Emma Firmstone and Firth earned top-three finishes on beam. Firmstone hit a first-place score of 9.825. This is a new season-high score. Yale broke their goal of a 48.600 team mark. Always a strong lead-off, Cooperman hit her routine without a problem (9.675), and Chia did the same (9.675). Firth provided a consistent and calm routine on the balance beam for the team (9.700). The exhibition of the day was senior Carly Israel.


On floor, yet another six Yale gymnast sat atop the first six places on podium. Baldovino, Buford and Cooperman placed top three. The Bulldogs closed out the meet with a high rotation score on floor (48.450). Sofia Menemenlis led the event off (9.550), while Baldovino had a notable performance, sticking all three landings (9.750). Cooperman put up a hit routine, tying with Baldovino for first-place (9.750) and Chong quickly followed with an entertaining floor set (9.625). Firth and Buford closed out the last event and the competition with two hit routines, 9.625 and 9.700. The exhibition of the day was Firmstone.
 
In the all-around competition, Buford finished first out of three athletes with a score of 38.775. The senior maintained her streak of breaking the 38.000 mark after receiving scores of 9.850 on bars, 9.600 on beam, 9.700 on floor, and 9.625 on vault. Firth followed with a total of 37.950 The breakdown includes 9.650 on vault, 8.975 on bars, 9.700 on beam and 9.625 on floor.

Yale will return home to host the Don Tonry Invitational next Saturday, Feb. 1. Competition is expected to begin at 1:00 p.m. in John J. Lee Amphitheater.