Gymnastics Rallies for Win After Slow Start

Everyone needs a little balance in their lives and for the women’s gymnastics team it was incredible balance on the beam that earned them a victory over Cortland State Sunday afternoon. A huge point margin on the balance beam late in the day launched the Red to a, 185.150-183.500, triumph after a rather shaky start.
It appeared that the Red left its confidence in Teagle as only one out of six gymnasts made their routine in the first competition on the uneven bars.
Colleen Davis, a senior and th[img_assist|nid=26984|title=Movin’ on up|desc=Junior Elyse Gottschalk and the Red triumphed in a dual meet over Cortland State Sunday afternoon. Cornell won 185.150-183.500.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]ree-time all-American in the vault, acknowledged her team’s poor start to the competition.
“We started off on the bars and had a pretty rough time … which we weren’t planning on,” Davis said. “But, we turned it around after that and the next three events were outstanding.”
After coming out of the gates slowly, the Red persevered with a dominant performance on the balance beam. Although the Red managed to win only two out of the four events, it was its dominance on the beam that lead to its eventual victory. Cornell had a 2.5 point edge in the event.
“Our coach was very happy with the turnaround,” Davis said. “But he thinks we need to be more confident and just do what we need to do.”
The women regained their composure to win the vault, lost by less than three tenths of a point in the floor exercise and dominated the balance beam.
Freshman Irene Leung triggered the turnaround for Cornell after winning the first two events — the uneven bars and the vault. Leung scored 9.55 on vault and 9.40 on uneven bars. Competing all-around for only the second time, her high marks in all four events earned the Fremont, Calif., native the top overall score of 37.725 in the dual meet. She defeated Cortland’s Brittany Wiesner by .05 points.
“[Leung] works really hard day in and day out, and we are lucky to have her,” Davis said. “She is an awesome performer.”
Another individual winner for the Red was junior co-captain Stacey Ohara, who conquered the beam with a score of 9.625. The score was almost a full point higher than the second place finisher, the aforementioned Wiesner.
Senior co-captain Megan Gilbert’s score of 9.45 was good enough to place third in the beam, while freshman Emily Santoro was the runner-up in the vault with a score of 9.525.
“We started off a little shaky,” Ohara said. “But overall, it was a better performance than the first meet. Everyone was focused and more relaxed.”
[img_assist|nid=26985|title=Do the twist|desc=Sophomore Amanda Chirlin earned a 9.30 on the balance beam en route to a Cornell victory.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]