Having two meets in one weekend is unusual for the Cornell women’s gymnastics team, but nothing it could not handle. Consistency is one key component that helped the Red compete well this weekend. The team opened its busy weekend with a win against Brockport University. The final score, 190.35 – 181.875, was described by freshman all-arounder Melanie Jorgensen as “one of our best meets overall.” Assistant coach Melanie Dilliplane harped on how consistent the team was against Brockport. “We had a really solid performance from everybody. We didn’t have to count any falls,” she said. The team won first and second place in every event. What made this competition even more exciting was Jorgensen’s all-around performance. Her total score — 38.150 — is the fifth best in school history. “[Jorgensen] is a really, really solid all-arounder. She has been very consistent for us this year,” Dilliplane said when asked about Jorgensen’s performance. Other highlights were senior Maddie Pearsall’s 9.6 on vault and 9.650 on the uneven bars, sophomore Sarah Hein’s win on vault with a 9.625, junior Bethany Neczypor’s 9.625 on the uneven bars and junior Melanie Standridge’s win on beam with a 9.650.On Sunday, Cornell headed down to Philadelphia to compete in a dual meet against rival Penn. Although the Red lost to the Quakers, 189.775 – 189.300, it was “a really close meet all the way up until the end,” according to Jorgensen. After all, the team lost by less than half a point. Going into the last rotation, Cornell was up by a tenth of a point, but made a couple of mistakes on balance beam, while Penn had a great floor competition. Even though the loss was a disappointment, “individually we had some really outstanding performances,” Dilliplane said. Sophomore McKenna Archer nailed her vault — receiving a score of 9.7 — and dominated beam with a 9.650. Another star performer was freshman Alexis Schupp with a 9.625 on the uneven bars. Jorgensen had another great day, especially on beam, notching a score of 9.675. The team is looking to the future and will see Penn three more times before the season is over. “We have three more tries [to beat Penn] and hopefully we will come out on top all three of those times,” Dilliplane said. Consistency is the name of the game for the gymnastics team. The Red showed how rock-solid it can be against Brockport, and plans to come back strong in a couple of weeks against Penn and the other conference gymnastics teams at the Ivy Classic Championship. “We have been very consistent,” Dilliplane said. “Overall, it was a really positive weekend.”
Original Author: Karen Schillinger