Last weekend, Cornell gymnastics faced off at West Chester University before immediately returning to Ithaca to battle Rutgers University in Newman Arena.
Despite the exhaustion born of traveling for hours and spending much of Saturday night setting up Newman Arena for the following day’s meet, the team performed well in both competitions, achieving some of its highest scores this season.
Saturday’s meet yielded a score of 193.125 for the Red against West Chester’s 193.300.
“We had some trouble on Saturday with beam again but overall we had a decent meet at West Chester,” associate head coach Melanie Hall said.
The team has struggled on beam throughout the season and scored an overall 47.075 on Saturday. During the Rutgers meet, however, they redeemed themselves with a markedly improved 48.300 score.
The team scored a total 193.300 against Rutgers’ 194.825. Cornell all-time records were tied and set by freshman Donna Webster and sophomore Claire Haklik.
Webster scored a 9.9 on vault, tying with the previous Cornell record, which was set in 2012.
Haklik scored a 9.925 on the floor, which led the team to their overall 49.000 score on the event. Both Webster and Haklik are contenders for the NCAA Regionals in a few weeks.
However, the team is primarily focusing on the ECAC Championships that will once again be hosted in Newman Arena. Other teams at the meet will be Brown, Yale, Penn, William & Mary and Temple.
Although the Red would normally practice every day in anticipation of this championship, the coaches decided to give the gymnasts a few days off with the intention of beginning practice again on Wednesday.
“More pressure sets [and focusing on] hitting your first routine,” freshman Miranda Lund said of goals for this week’s practices.
The Championship meet will be live streamed on ESPN+ and starts at noon on Saturday, March 23.