NCAA gymnastics: BYU posts season best to top Utah State

PROVO — The BYU gymnasts finally exploded for a huge number in their last home meet of the season Monday against the Utah State Aggies with a 196.300-194.250 victory in the Smith Fieldhouse.

BYU coach Brad Cattermole has been looking for a 196 all season long and noted after last Friday's meet against Southern Utah that he believed his team could notch that high score against the Aggies if only they put everything together with their "A" game.

Well, the Cougars' squad did just that Monday, posting 16 individual career and season highs and team season highs on every one of the four events. The 196.300 was a full 1.375 points higher than their previous season best.

"We just kind of skipped over the 195 and hit the 196. I told the team they needed to get out there and be inspirational, and they did it," said Cattermole.

The Cougars made a huge splash right off the bat with a 49.2 on the vault. Five Cougars posted season or career highs on that event, including career bests from Kiki Berrett (9.775), Hayley Jensen (9.8), Megan Donehue (9.825) and Dayna Smart-Allen (9.9). Alethea Boon added a season high 9.9 to the mix en route to her 39.275 all-around victory over Utah State's Heather Heinrich, who finished with a 38.325.

The great total on their first event vaulted them forward with plenty of momentum heading into uneven bars, where they again posted a season-high 49.0. Melissa Hough (9.775) and Madeleine Johnson (9.825) each posted career highs, while McKell Poulson (9.75) and Kylee Draper-Marvin (9.85) added season highs to the event. They were swinging with much more crispness than they did on Friday night, hit their handstands with more precision and landed their dismounts without too many extra hops.

"It was a great effort. We were in it, and we were going for it. Oddly enough, we were bad in warm-ups, but you could just see it in their eyes, they were having fun out there," added Cattermole.

Their best bars work of the season led into their top beam performance of the year with a 48.975 as they survived the four-inch apparatus without nearly as many bobbles as they've been suffering from and some stuck dismounts.

Draper-Marvin stuck a career-high 9.8 on that event, while Alethea Boon (9.85) and Smart-Allen (9.875) each finished with season highs.

Four season highs and a career high punctuated the floor as they finished that event with a season-high 49.125 despite suffering a fall from their first competitor. As it turns out that was the only fall of the evening in any event for the Cougars, and it wasn't counted in the final score.