Costa Makes History; Bears Post Second-Highest Score in Program History in Dual Win

Sunday, March 6

Providence, R.I.

4:00 pm

Brown University

194.600

184.725

Bridgeport

Photo by: Stew Milne

Costa Makes History; Bears Post Second-Highest Score in Program History in Dual Win

3/6/2022 8:40:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics

Complete Results

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It was a historic day for the Brown women's gymnastics program in their dual meet victory over Bridgeport on Sunday. The Bears took down the Purple Knights by a score of 194.600-184-725. The team's 194.600 points mark the second-highest score in program history, trailing only their school record mark of 195.175 which they set in 2016.

Senior Mei Li Costa broke the Brown program record with a score of 9.975 on bars, receiving the program's first-ever perfect score of 10.0 from one of the two judges.

Brown tied its season-high on both bars (48.975) and beam (48.150) before closing the meet strong with a season-best 48.925 on floor. Freshman Julia Bedell bookended her day by taking the individual titles on both vault and floor, Costa won the bars with her record setting performance, and Taylor Schulze won on beam. Brown placed at least two gymnasts on the podium in each event.

"We knew that the team was capable of a score like this," said head coach Sara Carver-Milne. "They've been putting things together all season and everything came together on every event today, so we're very proud of them. We had a tough weekend with two meets in three days and some volunteer work we were doing in between the two meets. They came in with energy and confidence and put it all together."

Starting off the meet on vault, Bedell tied her career-high at 9.825 to take home first place overall. Costa followed in second place at 9.775, and Alyssa Gardner took third place at 9.725 to tie her season-high. Ella Poley scored 9.625 and Angela Xing added a score of 9.600.

Moving over to bars, the Bears turned in a historic performance, tying their season-high with 48.975 points with three gymnasts setting new career-highs and one tying a career-high. Costa stole the show in the final spot in the rotation, nailing her routine and receiving scores of 9.95 and a perfect 10.0 from the two judges, for an average final score of 9.975, breaking her own program record that she set earlier this season. The 10.0 she received from one of the judges is also the first perfect 10 for a Brown gymnast in any event in program history. The score currently ranks seventh in the Northeast Region, with five of the gymnasts ahead of her competing for reigning national champion, Michigan.

"We knew Mei could do it if anyone could," Carver-Milne said. "I just couldn't be happier for her. She's worked so hard her entire life to get that recognition and it felt so great to have her team surround her when she did it."

Schulze took third in the event at 9.850 and Abby Contello took fourth at 9.825, both new career-highs. Paige Richter tied her career-high at 9.775.

On beam, the Bears once again tied their season-high with 48.150 points, led by Schulze (9.700) and Contello (9.675) who finished atop the podium. Lauren Lazaro (9.650) and McKenna Weiner (9.625) followed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Finishing up the meet on floor, Bedell, Xing and Lauren Kramer all set new career-highs, while Carolanne Van Zandt and Abby Walsh each tied career-highs to help the Bears set a season-high with 48.675 points. Bedell (9.875) and Xing (9.825) finished one-two, followed by Van Zandt (9.775) in fourth and Walsh (9.750) in fifth. Kramer's big career-high earned her 9.700 points, while Lazaro added a mark of 9.650.

The Bears will host their final home dual of the season with their Senior Meet on Friday evening at 6 p.m. against Bridgeport, before heading to the University of New Hampshire for a quad meet on Sunday.

"We're looking to continue what we did today," Carver-Milne said. "We know that we're capable of even more and our goals are to win GEC's and qualify to nationals as a team. And the way we're going, we're certainly capable of doing that. We're going to keep working hard in the gym, keep that positive mindset and confidence and go for it all."

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