By David F.P. (Scores from Troester) The Engineers and Bears have been frequent opponents and this season they met in their respective season openers. Brown would pick up the victory with a 178.075 over MIT’s 175.1, but as often is the case with early scoring, the teams pick up higher scores as the season goes on.

Each team had a 2007 regional attendee. MIT has Julia Zimmerman and Brown has Jennifer Sobuta. With a 36.575, Zimmerman topped all five all around competitors on either team. Fellow Engineer Sophia Harrison would be second among the five, and Sobuta a close third, with teammate Victoria Zanelli right behind her. Zimmerman also lead her team on Vault with a 9.45, Beam with a 9.275, and Floor with a 9.55. Sobuta was team leader on Vault with a 9.35, and came in second among Bears with a 9.25 on Floor. Harrison lead MIT on the Bars, clearly Tech’s toughest event of the day, and placed 2nd on her team in Vault with a 9.35, Beam with a 9.2, and Floor with an 8.9. On the MIT side, veterans Alison Barnard, Laura Kelly, Katie Mingo, Gina Policelli, Rachel Tatem, and Sarah Trowbridge all competed and contributed to the team score. Rookie Kristen Watkins debuted on two events a well for tech. For Brown, returnee Stephanie Albert lead the team on Floor with a 9.45, and also was 2nd on vault with a 9.0. Fellow veteran Whitney Diederich picked up the third highest score of her team on Floor with a 9, and Hannah Goldstein had the 3rd place score for the Bears on Vault with a 9 as well. Returning for her second season, Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt snagged the third place vault score on Brown. Veterans Sarah Durning, and Jessica Pestronk also contributed to the team score. The Bears had a major contribution from their freshman class in their first meet. Victoria Zanelli had the team’s highest score on Bars with a 9.5, and this was also the top score on any event for the bears. She also put up slid scores on the other three events. Vida Rivera was the second leading team scorer on Bars with a 9.25. Chelsey Binkley picked up the top beam score among her team with a 9.25 in her debut meet as well. Melissa Bowe also competed and contributed to the team effort.