PROVO, Utah – Despite record performances from seniors Makenzie Johnson Halliday and Emily Vidmar during Senior Day, BYU women’s gymnastics fell to Southern Utah 196.000-195.750 Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse.
“Overall I think we’re right where we need to be,” BYU head coach Guard Young said. “It was great to get our season-high on the bars and we ended the meet strong. We’re doing good gymnastics and we’re getting healthy. I think by the end of the season we’ll have the team that we want to put out there.”
BYU began the first rotation on vault with Halliday leading the Cougars with a season-high score of 9.875. Senior Mikaela Jones had her second best vault performance of the season with a score of 9.775 while Cheyenne Hill tied her season and career-high score of 9.750. Sin To also scored a 9.800 to help the Cougars tie their season-best score of 48.950, putting them ahead of Southern Utah’s score of 48.925.
The Cougars continued the momentum into the second rotation on bars, scoring a season-high 49.300, the eighth best all-time score in program history and the best BYU score on bars since February 2004. Brittni Wilde led the Cougars with a personal career-best of 9.900, while Jill Van Mierlo also added a season-high score of 9.875. Halliday and Éliane Kulczyk each recorded season-high scores of 9.850, as did Vidmar with a 9.775. Mackenzie Douglas also earned a career-best score of 9.825 to help BYU increase the lead to 98.250 – 97.975.
In the third rotation, two falls on beam knocked the Cougars out of first place. Vidmar scored a 9.800 and Halliday added a 9.775. Van Mierlo recorded a season-high score of 9.750 while Natasha Trejo notched a 9.725 to give BYU a team score of 48.300. The Cougars trailed the Thunderbirds 146.925-146.550.
In the final event of the meet, BYU totaled a 49.200 on the floor, its highest of the season. Both Halliday and Vidmar received scores of 9.900, tying a career-best for Vidmar and a season-high for Halliday. Trejo, To and Hill earned career-high scores of 9.825, 9.800 and 9.775, respectively. The Thunderbirds held steady on beam with solid performances from all six gymnasts to end the meet and take first.
Halliday won the all-around with a season-high score of 39.400, while also tying for first place on vault and floor and third on bars. Wilde took home the individual title on bars with her career-high score of 9.900 and Van Mierlo placed second with Kulczyk following right behind to tie Halliday for third. On floor, Vidmar tied Halliday for first place tying her career-high score of 9.900.
BYU travels to the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum in Logan on Friday, March 4, at 7 p.m. MST to participate in a duel match against Utah State and New Hampshire.