DENVER -- The BYU women’s gymnastics team competed in their first tri-meet of the season on Saturday against Denver University and Central Michigan University. Although the Cougars were unable to come away with the victory they posted relatively consistent scores throughout the meet finishing in third with a score of 192.500.
“We had some good performances but our routines have to be precise for us to be competitive in a meet like this and we made some mistakes tonight,” said Cougar head Coach Brad Cattermole following the meet. “But I hope that we saw tonight that we can be a good team. We just can’t worry about last year or last meet and we have to come in to compete every meet.”
BYU was led by seniors Megan Donehue and Danielle Goldman. Donehue turned in solid numbers on vault (9.725), bars (9.800) and beam (9.875) while Goldman paced the Cougars with a team-high 9.825 on vault as well as strong scores on bars and floor. Donehue’s beam performance was the best beam score of her career at BYU and Goldman’s vault score was also her career high.
“Ultimately we are still gaining experience and those with a good amount of experience hit for us tonight,” Cattermole said. “So we will continue to improve and fortunately we have the time to do so.”
Host University of Denver, who is currently ranked No. 14 in the nation, led the way with a team total of 194.200 followed closely by Central Michigan University with a score of 194.025.
The uneven bars proved to be the strongest event for the Cougars as they posted a team score of 48.350 finishing second ahead of Denver. Although led by Donehue, sophomore Natalie Eyre posted a career high 9.775 in the event. Freshman Haylee Rollins also performed solid routines for BYU.
BYU will travel to Iowa State Friday to take on the Cyclones at 7 p.m. in Ames.