The West Chester Women’s Gymnastics team posted their highest score of the season, 180.75, in their home meet against Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon, inside the Sturzebecker Health and Science Center on South Campus. The Rams beat Rhode Island College, who they beat earlier in the season, by more than twenty points. West Chester, who has already improved upon their level of play from last season, has gone beyond what they expected for this season. They have continued to break goals that they set for themselves, and have relied on their veteran competitors as well as their newcomers to light the spark that has led to their success.
The meet led to West Chester’s second win over Rhode Island College, and it also makes them undefeated in dual meet competitions. Kaley LaFleur won on both the uneven bars and the balance beam, leading to her all around victory with a score of 36.875.
Alli Aquila came in second in the all around with a 35.35. She tied for first on the floor with her freshman teammate Rachel Pearson, both of whom posted a score of 9.3.
Freshman Melissa Voskian came in first place on the vault with a score of 9.350, followed by Felicia Massaro who posted a 9.3. Alli Aquila rounded out the top three with a 9.25 on the vault. The vault was West Chester’s best event with them posting a final score of 46.275.
Aquila also came in second to LaFleur on the balance beam with a 9.25, with Jenna Ciatto following close behind her with a 9.05.
West Chester also performed extraordinarily well on the uneven bars, beating all six of Rhode Island College’s competitors. Kaley LaFleur placed first, followed by Aquila who finished with a 9.25 and Rachel Pearson who added 8.45 to the Rams’ score.
Rhode Island College only had one competitor finish in the top three, with Liz Glunt finishing third in the all around behind LaFleur and Aquila. Glunt posted a 33.80 for the Anchormen.
“The girls did really well on all events today and were very consistent,” head coach Barbara Cordova said. “The biggest improvement was on the beam. We scored our highest of the season with a 45.625. We really focused on having little to no falls, and we really did well on that goal with only three falls for the entire meet.”
After having 13 days off from competition due to snow, the Rams performed up to the standard that they were expecting. They scored their highest score of the season and broke their goal of posting higher than a 180.
In their last two meets West Chester has performed lower than they expected with their highest score only being a 177.650. They hope to finish the season how they started, with consecutive wins and exceptional performances in all events.
West Chester, who sent competitors to nationals last year, is hoping to continue to improve upon their competition to repeat their presence at a national level. The national competition is held in the middle of April.
Their next meet is this Friday night down in Sturzebecker Health and Science Center at 6 p.m. It is a dual meet against Temple and Springfield College. This is West Chester’s last home meet of the season before traveling to Collegeville to take on Ursinus and Chambersburg to challenge Wilson in their season finale.
The Golden Rams have only three meets left until the ECAC Championships which begin at the end of March.
Amy Festa is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at AF649219@wcupa.edu.