In its last home meet of the season, the Cornell gymnastics team was defeated by Temple, 193.400-191.375. The Red did well across certain events, but posted its lowest team score since its first meet.
“In all honesty, this weekend wasn’t great,” said sophomore Lyanda Dudley. “Coming off winning Ivies, we had expectations for ourselves to score high. When the scoring was tighter than usual, that added pressure caused us to become unfocused and psyched out when we made mistakes.”
Sophomore Kaitlin Green put up a 9.775 on bars, finishing first overall, and Dudley scored a 9.800 on the floor, tying her with Temple senior Briana Odom for first. Yet the beam really hurt Cornell; the Owls outscored the Red 48.325 to 47.025 in that category.
Although it was definitely not the Red’s best meet of the season, it was still an enjoyable Senior Day.
“The meet was tough,” said assistant coach Melanie Dilliplane. “Coming off such a high from the past few weeks, I think it took a bit of a toll. And it’s always tough on Senior Day.
“All three of [Alexandria Bourgeois, Krystin Chiellini and Elana Molotsky] have contributed significantly to this team, and they will definitely leave their mark on this program,” she added.
The squad is already looking ahead to this weekend’s meet against Towson and SUNY Brockport. With the postseason quickly approaching, the group understands that moving on from a low point like this is imperative to continued success.
“This coming weekend, we are looking to pick up where we left off after Ivy’s,” Dilliplane said. “The team certainly has the potential to set more school records. Our goal this weekend will be to have another great score to add to our season average. Towson will be a tough team, and Brockport has had some good meets this year as well, so we will look to go in and hit our routines and not count any falls.”
Dudley was also very clear that this past weekend does not define the year the team has had.
“This meet was an anomaly in our record season,” she said. “In the 11 weekends we compete, there is always bound to be one meet where we don’t do as well as we expect, and it always lights a fire to excel in the next competition. We got this one meet out of the way, and now we are ready to conquer ECACs and USAG Nationals this coming month.”
This Sunday’s contest is at Towson where the three teams will get underway at 2 p.m.