Gymnastics Finishes Second to Towson

This weekend was a bittersweet one for the Cornell women’s gymnastics team, as a disappointing pair of losses morphed into a monstrous, season-high mark of 190.20 for the Red.
Cornell hosted Towson, Bridgeport, and Ithaca College for the Big Red Invitational on Saturday afternoon in a packed Teagle gymnasium, where the Towson Tigers claimed their fourth straight title with a 191.875 final score. Cornell finished second to last year’s USA Collegiate Gymnastics Champions by a miniscule one-and-a-half points.
The Red are still weeks ahead of where they stood in February last year. “We aren’t even halfway through the season and we didn’t get to a 190 until near the end of last year,” said sophomore Brittany Howse, who claimed the floor with a season-high 9.75 on Saturday. Though her performance earned her Cornell’s only individual win of the day, she was followed closely by senior co-captain Megan Gilbert, who placed fifth with a 9.65, and juniors Sari Tepper and Elyse Gottschalk, who tied for sixth place with a pair of 9.625 scores.
On the bars, freshman Gabriella Sanguinetti placed fourth with a 9.65 to lead the Red, while sophomore Molly Parker placed sixth at 9.625. Progress on the bars was responsible for boosting the Red’s overall score. “We had a great bar routine, which was a major improvement this week,” Howse said. “We’ve been working a lot on consistency and form in the gym and pretty much everyone went up and hit [their routines], so that was great to see.”
While Cornell finished well ahead of third-place Bridgeport (186.775) and fourth-place Ithaca (183.10), the team faced a second loss to injury that was most apparent on the vault. Freshman Irene Leung, who has led the team in overall scoring throughout the season, was unable to compete due to an Achilles injury. “It was hard losing Irene to an injury on vault this year; she is usually the highest scorer. But we pulled it together and were consistent in hitting our landings,” Howse said. Freshman Maddie Pearsall was the Red’s top finisher in the event, placing fifth with a 9.575, with teammates Gilbert and freshman Emily Santoro close behind with dual 9.55s. An unsteady day on the balance beam was another hurdle that may have kept the women from defeating their long-time rival. “We had a rough day on beam. We had to count two falls, so that’s an entire point right there,” Howse said. Gilbert, freshman Maddie Pearsall and sophomore Amanda Chirlin were the Red’s highest scorers on the beam, all earning a 9.50.
In addition to an impressive team score, quality competition, and a sense of what it will take to defeat last year’s champions, the Red rookies will collect a unique home invitational experience from this weekend. More fans than the Teagle gymnasium can bear came to cheer on the gymnasts and were forced to watch from the hallway when standing room was exhausted. “It’s hard to pack that many teams in there,” Howse said. “With four teams competing at once it’s harder to concentrate and [the freshman] did a really good job.”
With competition experience and marked improvement each week, a Towson defeat is on the Red’s horizon. “We definitely have to hit everything to beat them, because [Towson] is a great team with a lot of talent,” Howse said. “But if we put everything together, we can do it.”responsible for boosting the Red’s overall score. “We had a great bar routine, which was a major improvement this week,” Howse said. “We’ve been working a lot on consistency and form in the gym and pretty much everyone went up and hit [their routines], so that was great to see.”
While Cornell finished well ahead of third-place Bridgeport (186.775) and fourth-place Ithaca (183.10), the team faced a second loss to injury that was most apparent on the vault. Freshman Irene Leung, who has led the team in overall scoring throughout the season, was unable to compete due to an Achilles injury.
“It was hard losing Irene to an injury on vault this year; she is usually the highest scorer. But we pulled it together and were consistent in hitting our landings,” Howse said.
Freshman Maddie Pearsall was the Red’s top finisher in the event, placing fifth with a 9.575, with teammates Gilbert and freshman Emily Santoro close behind with dual 9.55s. An unsteady day on the balance beam was another hurdle that may have kept the women from defeating their long-time rival.
[img_assist|nid=27683|title=Don’t look down|desc=Cornell gymnastics placed second out of four teams in the Big Red Invitational this Saturday. The Red finished with a season-high mark of 190.20.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]“We had a rough day on beam. We had to count two falls, so that’s an entire point right there,” Howse said. Gilbert, freshman Maddie Pearsall and sophomore Amanda Chirlin were the Red’s highest scorers on the beam, all earning a 9.50.
In addition to an impressive team score, quality competition, and a sense of what it will take to defeat last year’s champions, the Red rookies will collect a unique home invitational experience from this weekend. More fans than the Teagle gymnasium can bear came to cheer on the gymnasts and were forced to watch from the hallway when standing room was exhausted.
“It’s hard to pack that many teams in there,” Howse said. “With four teams competing at once it’s harder to concentrate and [the freshman] did a really good job.”
With competition experience and marked improvement each week, a Towson defeat is on the Red’s horizon.
“We definitely have to hit everything to beat them, because [Towson] is a great team with a lot of talent,” Howse said. “But if we put everything together, we can do it.”