Costa Breaks School Record to Lead Brown at WCU Quad Meet

Saturday, February 5

West Chester, Pa.

1:00 pm

Brown University

192.875

172.600

Bridgeport

Photo by: Stew Milne

Costa Breaks School Record to Lead Brown at WCU Quad Meet

2/5/2022 5:48:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics

Complete Results

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Senior Mei Li Costa broke her own Brown program record with a score of 9.925 on bars to help lead Brown to a second place finish in Saturday's quad meet at West Chester University. Costa's record-breaking performance earned her first place in the event, in addition to winning the vault where she tied her season-high of 9.800 points.

As a team, Brown finished with a season-high 192.875 points, taking runner up ahead of third place SUNY Cortland (182.800) and fourth place Bridgeport (172.600). Host West Chester took the team title with 193.100 points.

"Each week we're getting better and better," head coach Sara Carver-Milne said. "Again, we had new people in lineup they did an incredible job competing under pressure. I'm thrilled that we continue to improve. We're adding depth to our lineup and are competitive. We're scoring better each week and that's what we hope for leading into Ivy Championships at the end of this month."

The Bears started off the meet on floor where freshman Julia Bedell took home bronze after posting a season and career-best score of 9.825. Junior Lauren Lazaro also had a strong showing with a 9.700 score, good for a new season-high.

Next up on vault, Costa closed out the event for Brown by tying her season-high with a score of 9.800 to take home the gold. Bedell helped secured a 1-2 sweep atop the podium by tying her season-high at 9.750 to take silver. Senior Alyssa Gardner posted a vault of 9.650 points and junior Ella Poley set a season-high with 9.625.

Next up on bars, Costa led all gymnasts with her record-breaking performance, surpassing her previous school benchmark of 9.900, a mark she held with other gymnasts and last hit on January 26, 2020. Saturday's score of 9.925 gives her sole possession of the program record. Poley also had a big performance for Brown, setting a new personal record with 9.775 points to finish in third place. Freshman Taylor Schulze made her collegiate debut on bars and impressed with a score of 9.650. Senior Sophia Petrillo led off the bars for Brown with a strong score of 9.625.

"Mei Li is the big story of the day earning our new school record and now she stands alone," Carver-Milne said. "Taylor Schulze was in our lineup on bars for first time and was one of our top scorers. She's incredibly poised and the team knows it can count on her."

Finishing the meet on beam, Schulze led the Bears for the second straight meet in the event with a score of 9.725. Bedell and junior Abby Contello followed closely behind, each with final scores of 9.675 points. Lazaro led off the beam for the Bears and turned in a solid score of 9.650 to start the event strong.

Brown will hit the road once again next Saturday, February 12 for their first dual meet of the season against the University of New Hampshire. Meet time is set for 7 p.m.