By David F.P.
Southern Connecticut State University Owls, Bridgeport Purple Knights at Yale Bulldogs
Saturday, February 20th, 1pm Lee Amphitheater New Haven, CT

All three of Connecticut’s teams shared the competition floor just two weeks ago at SCSU, though they were also competing with Ithaca College that day as well. On Saturday, it will be entirely Connecticut as Coach Barbara Tonry’s D1 Ivy League Yale Bulldogs take on Coach Byron Knox’s Division 2 Bridgeport Purple Knights and Coach Jerry Nelson’s Southern Connecticut State Owls. UB enters the meet with the highest top scores of the three, though all of the teams have plenty of individual competitors who will make the individual events close, and Yale especially has been adding to their team scores in the past weeks.

Last Week
Yale’s 188.925 at home last weekend was a season high. Brigitte Kivisto set a career best on the Uneven Bars. Her teammates freshmen Gymnasts Tara Feld and Stephanie Goldstein set career bests on the All Around. The Bulldogs had season bests on every event but the Vault.

Bridgeport had a 190.550 and 190.225 last week in their two meets. During their road trip to Cornell they not only picked up a win against SCSU, but also defeated Cornell whom they shared the USAG Title with last year, and they won over Towson, the current reigning ECAC Division 1 champion.

SCSU is coming off a 185.850 at the Big Red Invitational last week at Cornell as well.

Going more in depth
Yale’s Kivisto has career highs of 9.725 on Vault and 9.775 on Floor, and has a variety of ECAC awards to her name. Senior Allison Mak has career highs of 9.575 on Vault and 37.9 in the All Around, as well as the 9.85 high on Beam. She was Yale’s first ever ECAC beam champion and has won many ECAC awards as well.

SCSU’s Sarah Darst has bunches upon bunches of Merits including qualifying for USAG Nationals in 07 and 08 and being part of the team that went in 09. Fellow Senior Briana DiPinto was the 2009 ECAC Gymnast of the year and qualified for 08 USAGs in addition to last year. Justine Basley set new records in 09 (9.8 on Bars, 9.825 on Beam, and 38.525 in the All Around) and is the Division 2 ECAC Champ on Uneven Bars 2 years running. She also was the 08 champ in the All Around and Beam. She qualified for USAG Nationals in 2008 and of course along with the team in 09. Added to her trophy case was the 2008 ECAC Rookie of the Year honor. Additionally, Taylor Murray, Caitlin Briere, and Robin Underwood all qualified for USAG Nationals individually during their career.

Bridgeport’s Lorraine Galow has personal bests of 9.8 on Vault, 9.675 on Bars, 9.825 on beam, 9.85 on Floor, and 38.925 in All Around. Her AA score is a school record and her Vault score ties one. She qualified for USAG Nationals individually in 08, and is a NCAA Regionals qualifier the past 2 years. She is a past ECAC Athlete of the Year. She also was 09 D2 All Around, Floor, and Vault champ. Her teammate Breanna Collins is the ECAC Division 2 FX champ two years running. Emily Repko holds the school record on Beam of 9.85 and is the D2 champ on this event.

Miranda Der competed in the Maccabiah Games this past year, and is 09 ECAC D2 floor and vault champ. She was rookie of the year last season. Her personal bests are All Around 38.475, Vault 9.7, Bars 9.7, Beam 9.75, Floor 9.7

Hannah Forti has personal bests of 9.75 on bars, and 9.625 on Vault. Her teammate Carissa Huggins was a USAG qualifier in 07 and the D2 Beam champ that year. Ravin Iasiello qualified to USAGs in 08 on vault as well. Newcomer Monica Mesalles was a member of the 2004 Spanish Olympic Team.

USAG Collegiate National Rankings-Team Scores
In the USAG collegiate national rankings Bridgeport is ranked 2nd, and SCSU 11th. On the various events, Bridgeport is 5th on Vault, 3rd on Bars, 1st on Beam, and 5th on Floor. SCSU is 11th on Vault, 4th on Bars, 9th on Beam, and 8th on Floor.

USAG Collegiate National Rankings-Individual Scores

Lorraine Galow is ranked 2nd in the All Around, and Miranda Der 8th.
Breanna Collins is 9th, and Galow 11th in the FX. Emily Repko is ranked 2nd on Beam, Galow 5th, Collins 9th, and Monica Mesalles 20th Der is ranked 12th on Vault, Mesalles is 14th, Galow 16th, and Yohannah Forti 17th.. Carissa Huggins is ranked 9th on Bars, Galow is 14th.

SCSU’s Briana DiPinto is ranked 17th on Beam. Sarah Darst is ranked 5th on Bars in USAGs. Justine Basley is 11th.

Team High Scoring
SCSU: Team 187.275, Vault 46.925, Bars 47.125, Beam 46.125, Floor 47.325
Bridgeport: Team 191.050, Vault 48.275, Bars 47.5, Beam 48.5, Floor 48.7
Yale: Team 188.925, Vault 47.725, Bars 47.2, Beam 47.375, Floor 47.425

SCSU School Records
Team 191.375, Vault 47.475, Bars 47.825, Beam 48, Floor 48.5
Individual All Around 38.525, Vault 9.75, Bars 9.8, Beam 9.825, and Floor 9.875

(Yale competes in the ECAC Division 1 and Ivy League.)

Individual High Scoring

Vault
SCSU: Brady 9.6, DiPinto 9.55, Basley 9.375
Bridgeport: Galow 9.85, Der 9.75, Mesalles 9.725
Yale: Feld 9.85, Kivisto 9.75, Mak 9.6

Bars
SCSU: Darst 9.675, Basley 9.575, Kuska 9.45
Bridgeport: Huggins 9.75, Forti 9.725, Galow 9.65
Yale: Mak 9.75, Feld 9.7, Andsager 9.675

Beam
SCSU: DiPinto 9.6, Brady & Murray 9.5, Kiback 9.425
Bridgeport: Repko 9.85, Galow 9.8, Collins 9.75
Yale: Mak 9.825, Kivisto 9.75, Feld 9.675

Floor
SCSU: Laraway 9.6, Brady 9.575, DiPinto 9.55
Bridgeport: Galow 9.825, Der 9.8, Collins 9.75
Yale: Kivisto 9.85, Feld & Trevino 9.65, Mak 9.525

All Around
SCSU: Brady 37.350
Bridgeport: Galow 38.675, Der 38.250
Yale: Kivisto 38.875, Feld 38.575, Mak 37.475