Cougars finish strong on beam but not enough to top Aggies

LOGAN, Utah -- The BYU women's gymnastics team scored a 192.900 to finish second behind Utah State's 193.200 in its first duel meet of the season.

"Our showing at the meet tonight wasn't too good," BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. "We had some girls fall that don't usually fall. We did have some individual performances that were good but overall we just really struggled."

The Cougars and Aggies scored similar on both the vault and the bars. Makenzie Johnson and Eliane Kulczyk led the way as they each scored a 9.800 on the vault. Raquel Willman followed close behind with a 9.775. 

Senior Haylee Rollins notched a team-high 9.800 on the bars. Emily Vidmar and Willman chipped in scores of 9.675 and 9.725, respectively.

"Emily had a great bar routine, especially for her first time, and Haylee did really well on the bars" Cattermole said.

Utah State had the advantage on the floor routine as the Aggies finished with a 48.756 over BYU's 47.300. 

The Cougars ended on the balance beam, earning their biggest score differential over the Aggies. The top four finishes on the beam all came from BYU. This time it was junior Megan Bain Tidwell who grabbed the top score with a 9.800. Ashley Follett, Summer Raymond and Vidmar each added a 9.700 to give their team an overall score of 48.550 on the final event.

BYU returns home next week for its first home meet of the season as it hosts Denver in the Smith Fieldhouse. The meet begins at 7 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on BYUtv.