After traveling about 350 miles to Kent, Ohio, the Red missed a win — tallying to 190.50 to Kent State’s 192.725.
This was an improvement from the teams loss at home on Feb. 2 to the University of Pennsylvania, when Cornell’s final score was 187.950, very short of the Quakers 192.400.
Associate head coach Melanie Hall noted that the scores did not fully represent the athletes’ performance.
“We had kids that had much better performances than their scores would indicate, Hall said. “Our focus is to clean up our routines and not make any mistakes. Our goal is to have no falls; we had no falls last weekend. It’s all about the details.”
On the bars, junior Amy Shen and senior Evelyn Patient placed in the top 5. Shen’s score of 9.725 was just enough to earn her third place overall, while Patient’s 9.650 placed fifth.
Shen has been recently recovering from a knee injury. For all of last season, Shen was out of competition, but she has been continuing physical therapy in order to compete this season.
“Knee injuries are never fun and they can keep you out,” Hall said, commenting on Shen’s injury. “[I’m] not sure if she’ll get to the floor this year…[but] bars is one of her best events so it was easiest for her to come back to. Bars you’re pretty much on your hands so it makes it the easiest.”
The Red’s sophomore Miranda Lund scored a 9.55 on vault, earning a fifth place overall. Lund also finished with a 9.725 on beam, placing her third in the all-around. Her 37.375 was beaten by Kent State’s Rachel DeCavitch and Karlie Franz, who scored 38.575 and 38.175, respectively.
“Different people stepped up to the plate and she has been training all-around,” Hall said about Lund. “She’s been strong on beam always and she’s been working really hard on the other three events.”
Cornell also saw positive results on the floor with junior Madison Smith tying Kent State’s Abby Fletcher for third with a 9.75 score. Teammate senior Samantha Henry also placed fifth with a 9.7 score.
The Red’s 47.675 score on bars barely beat out the Golden Flashes’ 47.425 score. However, across the events, Kent State was scoring into the 48’s, while Cornell scored rather consistently in the 47 range.
Despite the disappointing road loss, the women’s gymnastics team will co-host the much anticipated, first-ever Tumble and Rumble meet, with the wrestling team on Sunday, Feb. 16.
At this meet, the Red will square off against Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland and the College at Brockport.