CEDAR CITY, Utah - March 14 - Southern Utah gymnastics scored its
highest team score of the night on floor in the final rotation of the
night, but it wasn't enough to catch a solid Iowa team in a
195.400-194.725 loss to the Hawkeyes on Friday night. Although the team
came up just short of first, sophomore Elise Wheeler claimed two
individual titles during the evening with meet-high marks on the vault
and uneven bars.
"We gave Iowa this meet tonight with our mistakes," head coach Scott Bauman said after the meet. "Our team is so much better than this and this type of result is really frustrating to me."
The meet began on a high note for the Thunderbirds as the team collected its second-highest score on the vault this season with a 48.725. Wheeler led all competitors with a 9.850 as the final vault in the SUU line-up. Shannon Coughlin preceded Wheeler in the event and score a 9.800, one of two career-highs for the freshman during the competition. Jenna Vogt (9.725), Kellie Dangerfield (9.700) and Melissa Johnson (9.650) rounded out the remaining scores counting towards the team total.
Southern Utah held an early lead after the first rotation with Iowa scoring a 48.500 on bars.
The Thunderbirds encountered some bumps during the evening on bars and beam, typically their strongest events, opening the door for the Hawkeyes to take the lead. Iowa looked particularly strong in the second and third rotation with a 48.900 on vault and 49.075 on floor.
Southern Utah, on the other hand, scored marginally well on the uneven bars with a 48.575, but was below its season average on the event by more than a tenth. Wheeler's 9.800 performance was once again tops among all competitors for her second individual title of the evening. Seniors Erin Morgan and Tehani Douglas were just behind with a 9.750 and 9.725.
A fall and two big wobbles by SUU's three freshmen on the beam proved to be the difference maker on the balance beam. Katie Hicks and Kellie Dangerfield both bounced back from earlier falls in the meet to score the Thunderbirds' top marks on the event with matching 9.775's.
SUU went into the fourth rotation down almost a point with Iowa leading 146.425-145.600, but with the crowd behind them made a strong final effort to close the gap.
"Each and everyone of you looked like they wanted to make a run of it at the end," Bauman told the gymnasts in the locker room following the meet. "If Iowa would have made a mistake on beam, we would have won."
Douglas started the Thunderbirds off on the floor with a 9.775 and then was followed by four scores of 9.800 or higher. Coughlin led the 'Birds with a 9.875, her other career-high mark of the night, and was followed by Wheeler (9.850), Hicks (9.825) and Dangerfield (9.800), rounding out the team score of 49.125.
Iowa ended the meet with another solid performance on the beam with a team score of 48.975, giving the Hawkeyes the eventual 195.400-194.725 victory.
Wheeler ended the night in second place overall in the all-around competition, tying a season high of 39.200 in the process. Iowa's Rebecca and Jenifer Simbhudas rounded out the rest of the individual winners of the meet with Rebecca taking the beam title (9.875) and Jenifer claiming the floor (9.900) and all-around titles (39.275).
Southern Utah gymnastics will be back in action in its final regular season meet of the year when the Thunderbirds host Brigham Young University on Monday, March 17. Seniors Erin Morgan and Tehani Douglas will be honored during the meet as part of "senior night" festivities.
