Arizona gymnastics earned their first win of the 2018 season, 195.725 to 195.025 during the meet against former head coach Tabitha Yim’s Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, Feb. 11 in McKale Center. Both teams kept the scores relatively close throughout the meet, but the GymCats were able to stay in the lead despite minor mistakes and falls.
The meet honored the three senior GymCats: Kennady Schneider, Victoria Ortiz and Madison Cindric. McKale Center was also flooded in pink for the gymnastics annual Think Pink meet in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Today as a whole was super exciting,” Schneider said. “We had a a lot of energy as a team. Even though we had some mistakes as a team, we did a great job with picking things up and moving on from those mistakes and having the time of our lives.”
Vault
Arizona sophomore Maddi Leydin started the first rotation on vault with a high Yurchenko full earning her a season high of 9.800. The GymCats continued to launch off the vault with solid executions. Junior Lauryn Mattson earned a season and career high of 9.875. Arizona remained consistent with scores and took the lead early going into the second rotation, 49.175 to 47.475.
Uneven bars
The uneven bar score was lower than expected, but still was able to hold off the Cardinal. Schneider, Ortiz and Cindric competed on bars for the ‘Cats and earned solid scores. Schneider started the rotation, but took small steps on her dismount to earn a score of 9.750. Cindric had a solid routine with vertical handstands and transitions to the low and high bar, but earned a score lower than expected of 9.775. Ortiz earned herself a new season-high on the bars of 9.850 after soaring over the high bar during her Tkatchev. junior Danielle Spencer and sophomore Christina Berg followed with solid scores of 9.800 to keep the ‘Cats in the lead heading to beam, 98.150 to 96.550.
Beam
Beam was the toughest event for the GymCats as they were unable to keep their balance. Leydin was able to nab a 9.800 even with many balance checks. Junior Courtney Cowles brought her strength with a solid layout series, but a small step on her dismount earned her a 9.750. After many low scores from the GymCats through the rotation, Cindric was able to land a 9.850 to bring up the Wildcats overall score to a 146.575 to stay in the lead against the Cardinal.
Floor
Mattson kicked off the final rotation on floor with big smiles, landing her passes and earning a 9.850, followed by Berg with a 9.825. During her routine, freshman Payton Bellows injured her right foot on the first pass of a double-tuck.
“I’m going to guess it is probably her Achilles,” interim head coach John Court said.
Cindric got the crowd hyped up during her routine and was able to earn a 9.850 for the ‘Cats. Schneider brought it all to the floor and was able to earn a 9.850 as well. The Wildcats stayed in front of the Cardinal throughout the meet and took the win, 195.725 to 195.025.
Follow Syrena Tracy on Twitter
