Powered by a pair of freshman performances, the Cornell gymnastics team was able to hold on to win second place at this weekend’s Temple Quad Meet.
Cornell scored a collective 191.600 points at the meet to finish behind host Temple (193.225) and ahead of Southeastern Missouri University (189.325) and Ithaca College (188.075).
Major keys to the Red’s outing were standout performances from freshmen Amy Shen and Izzy Herczeg. Both freshmen were able to capture individual event titles, with Shen earning hers in bars after posting a score of 9.8 and Herczeg earning hers in beam after posting the Red’s fifth-highest score of 9.85 in the event.
Aside from the two freshmen, the team as a whole posted solid numbers. Other notable finishes included fifth place by senior Lauren Wong on bars and fifth place by freshman Maddie Smith on floor. The Red totaled a final 47.500 in vault, 47.650 in bars, 48.125 in beam and 48.325 in floor on the night.
“Both Amy Shen and Izzy Herczeg won events at the meet,” said head coach Paul Beckwith. “They were huge standouts [but] everyone else that competed did a great job and we wouldn’t have been able to do as well as we had without everyone.”
Despite the solid all-around performance, the Red saw a marked regression from its performance against Cortland the previous weekend, where it had scored 192.500 points. The dip can largely be attributed to several recent illnesses and injuries that have plagued the team.
“We had a few people recovering from sicknesses this week as well as this being the first week [and] we weren’t able to have our whole team travel to the meet,” said senior Jessica O’Brien.
With just about a month left until Ivy Championships, the Red will begin to amp up practice for the crucial meet. In particular, the squad plans to focus on the simple and small adjustments that need to be made in practice to improve their performance.
“At this point, it’s all about the small details,” said senior Allison Franz. “We have plenty of solid routines with high levels of difficulty that we perform consistently. Now, it’s about focusing on the little things: pointing our toes, eliminating every tiny step or bobble, perfecting every pose [and] making all the minuscule changes that make our skills bigger, faster, higher, more beautiful.”
The Red will return to action against Penn this Saturday, Feb 3. at 1 p.m. in its first home meet of the season.