Saturday afternoon, the West Chester University gymnastics team hosted SUNY Brockport and Rhode Island College in their south campus gym. The afternoon also played host to the 2011 team etching their name in the West Chester women’s gymnastics history books.It is hard to believe that only a year ago, West Chester was trying to maintain a team goal of keeping their meet score above 180. Especially since, only a year later, that same team scored the highest team total in West Chester gymnastics history with a 185.875.
The Rams started their meet on the vault, an event that has had pretty consistent results for the Rams, and today was no different. West Chester finished the event with a team score of 46.6.
West Chester moved to the uneven bars, which has proven to be a hurdle for the gymnasts in the past. However, if Saturday is any indication of things to come, the uneven bars will be a hindrance no more. West Chester, again, found themselves setting new highs in the record book with their highest uneven bar score since the gymnastics program began. Alli Aquila led the way on the bars for West Chester with a 9.375 to add to the team’s total of 45.875.
By the end of the second rotation, it became clear that the afternoon was really a competition between West Chester and SUNY Brockport, as Rhode Island College had quickly fallen significantly behind in the standings.
West Chester moved to an event that has been fairly successful for them recently, the balance beam. Amber Miller, who, last week, had a nearly flawless routine on the beam, was at it again. She had, virtually, a repeat performance and scored the highest beam score of the afternoon with a 9.650. The balance beam was West Chester’s best event of the afternoon, leading to a team score of 46.950.
With three events completed, SUNY Brockport had a team score of 138.975, while West Chester had a slight edge with a team score of 139.425.
However, the floor exercise was the only thing West Chester had left to complete. West Chester landed three gymnasts in the top five on the floor exercise and sealed their victory on the afternoon. West Chester ended up with a score of 185.875, which was over two full points higher than SUNY Brockport, who finished with a still impressive 183.750. Rhode Island College finished the afternoon in third place with a score of 146. 825.
In an afternoon when two previous school records are shattered and new names are written into the University’s record book, it is hard to notice exactly where West Chester could possibly improve. However, despite their record setting uneven bar performance, West Chester still suffered some pivotal and untimely falls on the bars that could have elevated their score even higher.
The gymnasts are still constantly looking to improve and they will have the opportunity to do just that when they travel to Temple University for the Ken Anderson Invitational next weekend.
Amy Festa is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at AF649219@wcupa.edu.