PROVO, Utah Coming off their best team-score of the season last weekend at UCLA, the BoiseState gymnastics team had an up and down night at the Brigham Young University Quad-Meet. BoiseState and BYU, as well as San JoseState and UtahState participated in the meet, creating a sea of blue with all teams sporting blue attire at BYU’s MarriottCenter on Friday evening. The Broncos placed third overall with a team score of 191.950 while SJSU earned the team title with a 194.90. BYU came in second in the team standings with a 192.575 while UtahState earned a 191.375 for a fourth-place finish.
Beginning on floor and rotating through to vault, followed by bars and then beam, the Broncos struggled on their first and final events, counting numerous falls on each. However, on vault and beam BoiseState performed up to par notching their third-best scores of the season on each event. Overall the Broncos placed second in the team vault standings, third on uneven bars, fourth on balance beam and fourth on floor exercise.
In the first rotation of the night, the Broncos counted two falls in their five-score total, leading to BoiseState’s lowest floor exercise team score of the season (47.500). Junior Yvette Leizorek led the Broncos in the event scoring a 9.775. Sophomore Kelsey Lang notched the Broncos second-best score with a 9.750 while freshman Fiona Leslie completed the team’s third clean routine, scoring a 9.675. Junior Ruthie Pennington earned a 9.175 while sophomore Sarah Smith was just behind with a 9.125. Freshman Lindsay Kazandjian rounded out the Bronco crew with a 9.025.
BoiseState moved on to vault in the second rotation, an event they’ve been particularly strong in this season. With one shaky event under their belts, the Broncos were able to regroup and rebound to their Bronco standard of competition with a 48.875. Showing consistency in her specialty event, redshirt freshman Chelsee Apple was the top performer for the Broncos for the fifth time this season. Apple posted a mark of 9.825 while senior Shaniece Craft was knocking at the door with a 9.80. A tight-knit group of scores followed with sophomore Hannah Redmon posting a 9.775, Lang earning a 9.750 and senior Amber Neroes scoring a 9.725. Pennington completed her second event of the night with a 9.650 to round out the Broncos’ vault squad.
Rotation three was another steady performance by BoiseState, posting a solid team score of 48.750. The Broncos were led by the ever-steady redshirt junior Taylor Jacob who scored a 9.80 on the event. Redmon snagged a close score of 9.775 while sophomore Mallory Dziawura and redshirt sophomore Katie Tuller tied with a 9.750. Senior Ashli Rainboth pulled in a score of 9.675 while Kazandjian earned a 9.650 to round out the BoiseState group.
In their fourth and final event, the Broncos struggled through their routines, counting three falls in their team score of 46.825. Jacob led the team for the second-straight event, posting a 9.675 on balance beam. Dziawura was second in the BoiseState line-up with a 9.575. Kazandjian counted a fall, but earned the third-best spot amongst the Broncos with a 9.225. Neroes had an excellent beam routine, but counted a fall on her dismount, spoiling her score to a 9.20. Smith and Leslie also had falls, scoring a 9.150 and a 9.075, respectively.
San JoseState’s Veronica Porte stepped up to the night’s competition, snagging three individual titles and tying for a fourth. Porte earned a win on vault with a 9.925 as well as on floor with a 9.825. Porte also tied for a win on beam with a 9.80 while also snagging the all-around with a score of 29.175. The Spartans picked up a fourth title, with Thomasina Wallace scoring a 9.925. BYU was able to earn one team title on the night with Kaylee Gallup tying for first on beam with a 9.80.
The Broncos continue their season on the road at SacramentoState next weekend in a tri-meet with the Hornets and UtahState. The meet is scheduled for an 8 p.m. (Mountain Time) start on Fri., Feb. 27 in Sacramento, Calif.
