WINONA, Minn. – The Gustavus gymnastics team took fourth place out of four teams at the Brooke Baures “Smile On” Invitational, hosted by Winona State University on Friday. The Gusties posted a team score of 177.500, which is a slight improvement from their first team score of the season last week.
“Overall it was a good outing,” Head Coach Aryn Bell said. “We improved our team score. Bars and vault were awesome. The team started and ended the meet wonderfully. It was a little rocky in the middle but they came together, reached their goal and improved on last week. I am very proud of them all. Even when things didn’t go they way they want they kept themselves composed and focused.”
Vault proved to be Gustavus’s best event as it scored 46.325. The Gusties scored 44.525 on the floor, 44.100 on the bars and 42.550 on the beam.
Alex Kopp (Jr., Wayzata, Minn.) posted the top scores across the board for the Gusties as she notched a 9.500 on the vault, 9.100 on the bars, 9.400 on the beam and a 9.350 on the floor for an all-around score of 37.350, which was best among all competitors. Amanda Malo (Fy., Greenwood, Minn.) also participated in the all-around with a score of 36.075, which was sixth best.
“Alex and Amanda, our two all around competitors, did what was asked of them and improved on their totals from last week,” Bell said. “Alex was awarded team MVP and it was well deserved as she placed first in all-around, edging off tough competition. That was wonderful to see her shake off last week’s performance and come out with the a bang today.”
The Gusties took a big step forward in improving upon last week’s performance on the bars. After Kopp’s 9.100 score, Malo posted an 8.975 and Emily Anderson (So., Mendota Heights, Minn.) tallied an 8.850.
“Individually, I cannot say enough great things about our entire bar line up,” Bell said. “It was a wonderful day and there were improvements all around. Each of them made the corrections they needed to make to improve from the last meet and it paid off. Emily Anderson did great again this week. She’s stepped into her role and is doing what the team needs from her. We certainly have lots of room to improve and build off today’s performance.”
The Gusties return to their home gym on Tuesday for a dual against Winona State. The meet begins at 6 p.m.