If getting to its meet last Saturday was a rite of passage then the results show that the gymnastics team passed its test with flying colors.
Leaving on Friday afternoon, the squad had to endure a 10-hour drive through snow and ice before it could reach Bridgeport, Conn., to face Bridgeport and MIT. The ordeal included a lengthy, bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on I-81 as well as an incident that involved getting the bus out of the snow it was stuck in.
But when it finally arrived in the Constitution State where weather conditions were no longer an obstacle, Cornell — scoring 183.525 points — defeated both Bridgeport (183.000) and MIT (157.300).
“We almost turned around,” head coach Paul Beckwith said of the drive. “But it was worth going.”
Cornell was the top scorer in both the vault and the balance beam, and also took second behind Bridgeport in the uneven bars and the floor exercise.
“We did what we needed to do,” Beckwith said. “We’re really pleased with how the kids did.”
“It’s a turn on for the team,” said Abbey Vedder of the Red’s performance. “We needed a win.”
Vedder was victorious in the balance beam, with a 9.725, and was second on the vault, finishing with a 9.375.
“Abbey had a really good day,” Beckwith said, adding that she attained a personal best on the vault.
Also finished in the top-five of a pair of events was Stephanie Daehler, who earned second on the floor and fourth on the beam.
“Stephanie Daehler had a really, really, really, good performance on the floor and the beam,” Beckwith lauded. “Our beam team was awesome.”
On the uneven bars, it was Rachel Goldberg who paced Cornell, taking second. Meredith Long placed fourth in the event.
Despite being bogged down with in injuries, the squad seems optimistic that it can knock down some school records during the remainder of the season and earn a spot in the national championships.
“If we can get our bar scores up, there’s no reason we can’t get a school record,” Beckwith explained, adding about this weekend’s performance, “It just bodes well for the future.”
Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj