The DU women’s gymnastics team topped Southern Utah on Friday and performed incredibly well, according to head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart.
The team finished with scores of 49.125 on vault, 49.152 on bars, 49.025 on the beam and 49.1 on the floor for a total 196.4 in the competition, marking the team’s best score on the road since 2007.
The Pioneers entered the competition with distinct goals in mind, in addition to switching up their approach to the meet, according to Kutcher-Rinehart.
One of the team’s main goals was to score 49 or higher in each event, which they achieved.
“We had a lot of girls competing in areas that normally aren’t theirs,” said Kutcher-Rinehart. “The different line-ups really helped the athletes to get experience in new areas; it also allowed other athletes that normally perform the events get some rest.”
Another aspect of the performance that contributed to the victory was the mental attitude of the athletes, according to Kutcher-Rinehart.
“The mental toughness of the girls really helped a lot; they remained calm after making mistakes and really trusted each other,” said Kutcher. “One person after another could make a mistake, and it didn’t have to count.”
“A couple of girls that stood out were Ellese Sakai-Heart and Simona Castro; both either reached or tied their career highs. Sakai-Heart reached a career high of 9.85 on the balance beam, and Castro scored a 9.85 on the vault.”
This victory was key to the team’s overall season, according to Kutcher-Rinehart, and the fact that it was an away meet helps even more. It is beneficial to have a high away score, as it allows the team to drop a lower score and really helps the team’s overall ranking.
Kutcher-Rinehart is looking forward to the home competitions to come, however, and said she hopes the DU community will come out to support the team in this exciting time.
“Overall, our goals are really to build a championship tradition on a foundation of our three values: of teamwork, as in supporting each other; character, as in having trust in one another; and excellence,” said Kutcher-Rinehart.
