Three-hundred people crowded into Teagle Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon to see Cornell host Rutgers, Eastern Michigan and Temple for the Red’s Senior Day. Cornell posted its second highest team score of the season, 191.275. However, the finish landed the Red in fourth place, falling behind Temple by one tenth of a point. According to head coach Paul Beckwith, the meet was still a success for the Red.“[The meet] went well; we didn’t count any falls for only the second time this year,” he said. “[It was the] second highest score of the year. We had some really good routines and we had some that need some work. We are still struggling, but we are getting there.”The performance of the day for the Red went to sophomore Alexis Schupp, who recorded the Red’s highest scores on both vault and beam, as well as the second highest in bars. Schupp posted a 9.600 on vault, a personal best which earned her eighth overall. Her 9.675 was good enough for a fifth place finish on beam. Sophomore Melanie Jorgensen placed highest for the Red on bars, posting a 9.700, which tied her for fourth place, while Schupp was close behind in fifth place with a 9.675.“I had the team high on beam and vault and second on bars,” Schupp said. “It was just one of those days where everything came together. Some people have those days and some don’t. This week was mine.”“Lexi had a great meet — the best of her career,” Beckwith added. “This was only the second time she vaulted for us this year. The first time was at Towson [on Feb. 18] when we had some injuries and all of a sudden we put her in and she did okay there. She’s been doing some different things at practice to break into the lineup and she has been vaulting up in the pit to work on some things. She wanted to know if she could warm up with us at this meet and in warm up she hit this great vault, so I put her in. As it turns out she was our highest scorer.”Schupp may be a newcomer to vault, but she has been working hard on her own, according to Beckwith.“Mostly for vault I’ve just been off doing my own thing and it finally just came together,” Schupp said. “We’ve been working a lot on what will work and we finally found out what works. I just go off on my own and practice.”Another gymnast who posted a high score for the Red was sophomore Mackenzie Sato, whose 9.725 earned her fourth overall on floor.“Mackenzie’s floor was awesome,” Beckwith said. “Her start value is a 9.9 instead of a 10.0. She’s just missing one big difficulty trick, so she’s hitting almost perfectly. They only took off less than two tenths. We’re really happy and if everybody could perform like that then we will be scoring 193.000.”After this weekend, the Red will face Brown and Kent State before heading into its championship season.“We’re going to have to do really well [in the next few weeks,]” Beckwith said. “If our championship were tomorrow, we wouldn’t qualify.”Saturday’s performance was indicative of the growing depth of the team, according to Schupp.“Saturday’s meet went really well,” she said. “I thought that, as a whole, the team is doing consistently better, which is something we look forward to. I think we have a really good chance for the championships. We just need to keep up a lot of the hard work and be more consistent. But I really think that if the team can pull it together, we can pull it out.”Besides sharpening up and focusing on the small details of the four events, the Red is looking for a breakthrough to conclude its season, according to Schupp.“My personal goal is to keep having meets like I did last weekend, which was like a breakthrough for me,” she said. “It was rewarding and felt good, that’s what’s we’ve been doing as a team. That’s what [the Ivy Classic] was for us and that’s what hopefully we will continue to do.”
Original Author: Lauren Ritter