PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Despite competing with an incomplete roster, the Ursinus College gymnastics team managed to string together an impressive display at Sunday's quad meet hosted by Temple.
The Bears posted their best vault score of the season and achieved at least 46 points on all three events for which they fielded a full lineup, finishing with a final tally (174.175) that was hardly indicative of an overall performance rife with personal and season bests.
Ursinus' vault total of 46.675 was nearly a full point higher than Ithaca's, and just .175 points shy of Division I Penn. The Bears also edged the Bombers with a 46.000 on the balance beam, but had only four entrants for the uneven bars, thus missing the opportunity for what would likely have been their best team total of the year.
The host Owls ran away with the team title at 194.150, with Penn (190.100) in second and Ithaca scoring a 185.750 to take third.
Ursinus placed five gymnasts over a 9.250 on the vault in a strong team-wide effort. A week removed from her individual win at West Chester, senior co-captain Lindsay Rush again topped the Bears' charts with a 9.425 to match her season high and place eighth.
Sophomore Hailey DiCicco registered a personal-best 9.375 to tie for ninth, while freshmen Emma Gable (9.325) also notched a season best and was followed closely by fellow first-year Emma Brown (9.300). Junior Breanna Couts earned a season-high 9.250.
Freshman Kaylin Knapsack recorded the best individual score of the afternoon for Ursinus, garnering a career-best 9.625 to tie for eighth on the floor exercise.
Sophomore Skylar Haas had her best score of the season with a 9.350, and senior Matisen O'Brien was right on her heels with a 9.325, her top total of the new campaign.
For the second straight meet, junior Autumn Snape was the Bears' premier performer on the balance beam. This time, she secured a season-high 9.575, the second-best of her career, to finish in 10th place overall. Rush's 9.300 was her best of the year by a full half-point, and O'Brien netted a season-high 9.225.
Gable led the way on the bars with a 9.200, and DiCicco earned a 9.100.
The gymnastics team is next in action on February 3, when the Bears head to the historic Palestra for a quad meet against a trio of Ivy League squads in Penn, Brown, and Cornell.