Gymnastics Takes Second Place in Home Tri-Meet

Sunday, January 30

Providence, R.I.

7:00 pm

Brown University

190.700

189.925

Bridgeport

Photo by: Stew Milne

Gymnastics Takes Second Place in Home Tri-Meet

1/30/2022 11:49:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics

Complete Results

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown women's gymnastics team took second place in their first home tri-meet of the season of Sunday evening. Competing at home for the first time in 693 days, the Bears finished the meet with 190.700 points, finishing behind first place Southern Connecticut State (191.700), and ahead of third place Bridgeport (189.925).

Freshman Julia Bedell had strong performances on all three of her events, leading the Bears on the floor where she finished runner-up. Freshman Taylor Schulze turned in a huge performance to take first place on beam, junior Ella Poley led the Bears on bars in third place, and senior Mei Lei Costa had two podium finishes by winning the vault and taking runner-up on beam.

"We faced a lot of adversity this week with COVID protocols and the blizzard," said head coach Sara Carver-Milne. "I was super proud of the way the team came together and didn't get discouraged despite all the adversity we had throughout the week. We had quite a few people out so we were able to get some others more experience on events they haven't had an opportunity to compete before. That was exciting and they really stepped up and came though in a big way for the team."

Brown started off the meet on the vault, where Costa and Bedell swept the top two spots overall, with Costa winning gold after starting the meet strong with a 9.800, followed by Bedell at 9.750, with both scores registering season-highs.

"Julia Bedell was solid on all three of her events we were really excited to see her shine."

Next up on bars, Ella Poley notched a season-best with a score of 9.275, landing her on the podium in third place. Sophia Petrillo followed by posting a season-best of 9.575.

The Bears turned in their highest score of the night on beam, combining to net 48.125 points in the event, while sweeping the top two spots. Closing out the event for Brown, Schulze turned in a clutch performance by setting a new personal record of 9.875 to take home the gold. Costa was next on the score sheet with 9.825 points, a season-best which put her in second place overall. Bedell and Lauren McKeown followed by each scoring 9.725 points, setting both new career-highs.

"Taylor is unflappable on beam. To come in as a freshman and be scoring 9.875 is huge. The sky is the limit for her and we hope to add her on a couple of events as well. The season is still young. We're just getting started and excited about the depth we're building and the way the team is coming together and competing."

Holding a slim lead heading into the final event, sophomore McKenna Weiner led off on floor and posted a new career-high 9.575. Junior Lauren Lazaro added a score of 9.500, and Bedell closed out the meet for Brown with another strong showing, this time posting a score of 9.750 to finish the event runner-up individually.

The Bears will compete again on Saturday, Feb. 5 with a quad-meet at West Chester, with SUNY Cortland and Bridgeport also joining.