BYU gymnasts win home finale for seniors

PROVO — The BYU gymnastics team had the meet of its season with a 195.725 score on "Senior Night." The Cougars topped Boise State (195.300) and Arizona State (193.625) for top honors.

"You never go into a meet saying, 'I hope we lose this one.' But in the grand scale of things, you're looking for a score, and we'll take the win if we can score like tonight," said BYU coach Brad Cattermole. "They just got out there and competed like it meant something. We were inspired because of the seniors."

Though the Cougars still have two road meets remaining, the high score at home was a nice adios to the fans and the seniors, and it gave the Cougars a bit of a boost in making regionals this season.

"We're pretty sure we're going to make regionals this year, and then if we can keep competing like this, we're hoping to make nationals," said Danielle Goldman, one of four BYU seniors honored at the meet.

The Cougars started off the night rocking, tying their second-best vault score of the season with a 48.975, and kept things going through the next two apparatuses with a season-high 49.025 on bars and a season-high 49.000 on beam.

They didn't finish things off at home with a season-high score on the floor, but they did well enough with a 48.725 to rack up their top finish of the year in the all-around.

"It was really fun. I'm really happy we did well; that makes (senior night) so much better," Goldman said. "We pulled together really well, but everyone just did a regular set. So I think we can do even better."

Several BYU individual competitors came away with season and career highs on the night. Madeleine Johnson notched a 9.9 under her belt on the uneven bars for the highest score of the night on any apparatus for the Cougars. It was also a career-high routine for her.

"It was definitely a good routine," Johnson said. "But I don't usually look at my scores. So I had to find out through my teammates. So it was kind of fun."

Natalie Eyre also knocked out a career-high 9.8 on bars and added to it a season-high 9.8 on balance beam. Haylee Rollins (9.85) vaulted to a career high, and Krysten Koval vaulted to her season-high score with a 9.725.

The Cougars did so well on bars that in addition to the career highs from Johnson and Eyre, Goldman finished off her home career on the bars with a tie for her career-high 9.750, and Megan Donehue tied her season high on the event with a 9.825 in her final home meet for BYU.

Jennifer Lezeu finished things off in the high department with a season-high 9.825 on the balance beam.

The Cougars now go out on the road for two more meets in an attempt to raise their regional qualifying score another notch or two. They'll visit Southern Utah on March 22 after a 10-day layoff and the Red Rocks of the University of Utah on March 26 in Salt Lake City.

BYU will use the 10 days before the next meet to try to get everyone feeling better, as many of the gymnasts were competing with illnesses, and Donehue is still nursing her sprained ankle that she suffered a week ago at Boise State in a meet against the Broncos and Utah State Aggies.

The home fans said goodbye to Goldman, Donehue, Kaylee Gallup and McKell Poulson-Merkley after the tri-meet on Friday.

e-mail: jolsen@desnews.com